EXTINCT SPECIES 



hundred years ago. It became very rare in the early part of the 

 nineteenth century, being practically extirpated in the '3o's. A 

 few lingered however in the wilder districts about Mounts Tom 

 and Holyoke, and the last specimen actually known to have been 

 captured in the State was shot on Mount Tom in the winter of 

 l8 5-'5 I - It: nas also been reported as seen on Mount Holyoke 

 as late as 1863, when one was said to have been flushed by a hunt- 

 ing party. 1 Baird, Brewer and Ridgway record it as having been 

 shot at Montague and in other towns in Franklin County " within a 

 few years," i. e. prior to 1874. 



2. Grus americana (Linn.). WHOOPING CRANE. This 

 species occurred without doubt at the time of the settlement of 

 the State. Emmons includes it in his 1833 list as a " rare but 

 regular visitant." 



3. Grus mexicana (Miill.), SANDHILL CRANE. This spe- 

 cies probably occurred with the preceding. 



4. Olor buccinator (Rich.). TRUMPETER SWAN. This 

 species is generally believed to have occurred in the State about 

 two hundred years ago. 



EXTINCT SPECIES.* 



1. Plautus impennis (Linn.)- GREAT AUK. Formerly of 

 undoubted occurrence along our shores. Among the shell-heaps at 

 Ipswich, fragments of its bones have been found. Gosnold alludes 

 to its presence on Cape Cod at the time of his explorations in 1602, 

 and an old gunner, residing at Chelsea Beach assured Audubon 

 that he " well remembered the time when the Penguins were 

 plentiful about Nahant, and some other islands in the bay." 



2. Camptolsemus labradorius (Gmel.). LABRADOR DUCK. 

 Formerly a not uncommon winter visitant, but very rare during 



1 Pierce; Forest & Stream, Vol. XXXIII, p. 46. 



* Allen ; Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, Vol. I, No. 3, Sept., 1876, pp. 53-60. 



