47G BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



species as shown by these reports is that of the house wren. 

 Five observers report an increase, eiglit report the numbers 

 unclianged, and thirty-eight report the birds as decreasing, 

 becoming extinct, or absent in the breeding season. When 

 it is considered that these reports come mainly from local- 

 ities where the house wren was once common, their signifi- 

 cance is apparent. Thirt}^ or forty years ago the bird was 

 found about many of the cities in Massachusetts ; now it is 

 rarely seen. It seems to be decreasing in every county on 

 the mainland. In my own experience this bird has become 

 rare or wanting, within thirty years, in nearly every locality 

 where I once knew it to be common. 



There is some evidence that the red-headed woodpecker 

 was conmion locally at one time. The Rev. T. B. Forbush 

 told me in 1870 that it was common about Westborough, 

 AVorcester County, up to about 1830. He knew the bird 

 well, and identified it at sight. Mr. J. M. VanHuyck of 

 Lee, Berkshire County, writes that the red-head was once 

 common there, and that a pair formerly nested in a hole in 

 an old balm-of-gilead tree on his farm. A pair was reported 

 to me as breeding in Worcester County in 1878, but I had 

 no chance to verify this, as both birds were shot by a col- 

 lector. 



The wood thrush is markedly decreasing in some localities, 

 but this is fully made up by its increase in others. Warblers 

 generally appear to be decreasing in Plymouth, Bristol and 

 Barnstable counties and parts of Worcester County, but the 

 decrease may be mainly due to the weather conditions of 

 1903. Taking the State as a whole, the reports of increase 

 and decrease are quite evenly balanced. The same is true 

 of the thrush family ; eighteen report an increase, fourteen 

 no change, and seventeen a decrease. 



The rose-breasted grosbeak is reported as increasing in 

 thirteen difterent localities and as decreasing in only t\vo. 

 From my OAvn experience, and from comparing notes with 

 others, I have come to believe that this bird has been increas- 

 ing and spreading slowly in Massachusetts for about forty 

 years. It seems now much more common and generally 

 dispersed than it ^vas thirty j-ears ago. It seems to have 



