THE BIRDS OF SPRINGFIELD AND VICINITY. 43 



of insects than in the former, notwithstanding the thousands 

 of gallons of poison washes that are poured over vegetation in 

 and around the large centers. 



A number of pheasants of different varieties have been 

 turned out in this vicinity during the last three years, and 

 a few valley quail from California. The former could un- 

 doubtedly be made permanent residents here if protected in 

 fact as well as in name. 



Extirpated Species. 



306. Tympanuchus cupido (I/inn.). HEATH HEN. 

 This bird probably was not common at the time this valley was 

 first occupied by the English. Except along the streams the 

 country w T as heavily wooded, mostly with massive white pines 

 and white oaks, while this bird prefers a home among dry 

 tracts of scrub oaks or other small growth. Few of the old 

 people here seem to have heard much of the heath hen, but one 

 man in West Springfield belonging to a family of quite famous 

 hunters in old times, pointed out the spot in that town where 

 his uncle had shot one, which must have been before 1820, and 

 in this family it was considered a remarkable occurrence, as a 

 bird of this kind was so rare. Nuttall, w r riting in 1832, spoke 

 of their being still met with in Westford, Ct. , which is a town 

 about thirty miles southeast of Springfield. Mr. S. T. Ham- 

 mond says that a great many years ago while in Killingly, Ct. , 

 two old hunters pointed out the place where they said the last 

 heath hen in that state was killed. In 1818, when the first 

 statute was passed in this state protecting the so-called game 

 birds, this species was not included, and not until thirteen years 

 later was it made unlawful to kill a heath hen in Massachu- 

 setts. 



310. a Meleagris gallopavo fera (Vieill.)- WILD 

 TURKEY. Probably common at the time the Puritans came to 

 this valley in 1636, but I fail to find any reference to wild 

 turkeys in any of the records or local histories of the early 

 settlements here ; some of the writers of early times elsewhere 



