BULLETIN 



OF THE 



NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



Vol. I. SEPTEMBER, 1876. No. 3. 



DECREASE OF BIRDS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



BY J. A. ALLEN. 



Unfortunately very few data are obtainable relative to the 

 birds which inhabited Massachusetts at the time of its first ex- 

 ploration and settlement, nearly three hundred years ago. The 

 smaller species attracted little attention here, as elsewhere in North 

 America, prior to the beginning of the present century. A few 

 notices of the larger species occur in the early accounts of the pro- 

 ductions and "commodities" of the State, which are sufficiently defi- 

 nite and trustworthy to show that a few species then common have 

 since been nearly or wholly extirpated, and that a number of others 

 are far less numerous now than they were in the early colonial days. 



The number of indigenous species thus far recognized as belong- 

 ing to the fauna of the State is about three hundred and ten. Two 

 of these (the Great Auk, Alca impennis, and the Wild Turkey, Melea- 

 gris gallopavo var. occidentalis) have become wholly extirpated, and 

 two others (the Pinnated Grouse, Cupidonia cupido, and the Ameri- 

 can Swan, Cygnus americanus) are so nearly that the former is 

 found at only one or two limited localities and the latter is but a 

 chance visitor. Another (the Brown or Sandhill Crane, Grits cana- 

 densis), and perhaps a second (the White or Whooping Crane, Grus 

 americanus), will be presently shown to have been formerly inhab- 

 itants of the State, though extirpated at so early a date that they 

 have not as yet been recognized as belonging to its fauna. That 

 several others have likewise greatly decreased in numbers will be 

 shown in the present article. These are the Red-winged Blackbird 

 (Agelams phceniceus), the Purple Grakle (Quiscalus purpureus), the 

 Crow (Corvus americanus), the Raven (Corvus corax), the Pileated 



