36 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



Water Birds. 



About one hundred and fifty species of water birds, of 

 which less than thirty are reported as breeding, are found in 

 Massachusetts. These birds, as the name would signify, fre- 

 quent almost perpetually the water. Some species inhabit 

 rivers, creeks, lakes and ponds ; while others, such as the 

 auks, puffins, guillemots and petrels, are oceanic birds, and 

 rarely are found inland unless driven thither by severe 

 storms. Grebes and loons live almost constantly in the 

 water. The jaegers, gulls and terns are common along the 

 Atlantic coast, but they are not, strictly speaking, oceanic, 

 as many of them when migrating are found inland, and 

 some of the gulls and terns are regular summer residents on 

 the large lakes in the interior. 



Numerous species of geese, ducks and swans (Anseres) 

 are highly esteemed for table purposes, and largely sought 

 after by sportsmen. Some ducks and certain geese prefer 

 to dwell on the ocean, but others, a,nd in fact the majority, 

 find congenial resorts in bays, lakes and the large rivers. 

 The herons, bitterns and egrets inhabit swamps, bogs and 

 secluded water courses in all parts of the State. These 

 waders are common during the winter in the South Atlantic 

 and Gulf States, but on the approach of spring they come 

 northward along the Atlantic coast as well as in the interior. 

 Species breed from the Arctic countries southward. 



The rails, gallinules and coots ( Paludicolas) seek the 

 most secluded situations, in oftentimes almost impenetrable 

 swamps and marshes, where they rear their young in safety 

 from the interference of man, amid the thick reeds and 

 sedges. Rails collect in large numbers, during the late 

 summer and fall before migrating southward, in marshes 

 about tide rivers, where hunters slaughter them in great 

 numbers. The shore birds (Limicolce), or the snipe, wood- 

 cock, phalaropes, sandpipers, plovers and turnstones, include 

 many well-known game birds. Some species of this group 

 breed in Massachusetts, others have their breeding grounds 

 far northward. These birds are more abundant about mari- 

 time districts than in the interior, but different species are 

 found inland, in suitable localities, either as summer resi- 

 dents or during migrations. 



