No. 4.] DECREASE OF BIRDS. 441 



It will be seen by the above table that ninety-four corre- 

 spondents report birds as decreasing ; only sixty-two report 

 them as either holding their own or increasing. If we add 

 to this number, however, the twentj- who regard game birds 

 or other larger species as diminishing, and song birds or the 

 smaller species as stationary or increasing, we shall have 

 eighty-two who believe that the smaller species are either 

 stationary or increasing, against ninety-four who believe all 

 birds are decreasing. Next, we find that forty-three who 

 report birds as rapidly diminishing live in or near the larger 

 cities, where the principal causes of this diminution are 

 most active. There are, then, only fifty-one persons, out- 

 side of the influence of the cities, who find birds generally 

 decreasing, to eighty-two who find the smaller birds at least 

 holding their own. This being the case, it seems probable 

 that the smaller birds in general have not decreased greatly 

 in Massachusetts, as a whole, in recent years, except in 

 and near the centres of population. Undoubtedly there are 

 fluctuations in the numbers of certain species over large 

 areas. There are also h^cal fluctuations in the numbers of 

 most species. Certain birds will be rare in a locality for 

 a year or two, and then, perhaps, plentiful again. The re- 

 ports plainly show such oscillations ; but it may be doubted 

 if there is any great and general decrease in all the smaller 

 species. 



Mr. Hornaday, by pursuing a similar method of inquiry 

 six years ago, arrived at a somewhat diflerent conclusion. 

 How can this discrepancy be explained ? In the first place, 

 Mr. Hornaday apparently based his Massachusetts report on 

 the statements of only eleven people, as against those of two 

 hundred who have responded to the present imjuiry. In 

 the second place, seven out of his eleven correspondents 

 lived in or near cities, where birds were, or had been, de- 

 creasing. 



But it ma}^ be said that the testimony taken by him was 

 more in the nature of selected expert evidence than that 

 obtained in the present inquiry. To meet this objection, 

 extracts from thii'ty-five re[)orts have been selected. These 

 observers may ])e said to belong to the same class as those 



