No. 4.] DESTRUCTIOX OF RTRDS. 491 



spriiii;-. Fight meadow larks which wintered W(dl up to the 

 eokl weather in January disai)peared then, and not one has 

 been seen here since to date (March 27). By feeding th(^ 

 birds about the house daily, most of the birds that remained 

 were kept safely tlu'ough the winter. 



Mr. Smith remarks that February " was a fitting climax 

 to a winter that, so far as mean tcsmperatures are concerned, 

 is unprecedented in tlie records of the New England climate 

 and crop service. The weather of the month was character- 

 ized by severe and jx^rsistent storms along the coast, during 

 which the winds blew with great violence. The month will 

 go on record and be long remembered as one of great and 

 unusual severity." It began with a gale from the north- 

 west tlijit reached a maxinmm of seventy-eight miles per 

 hour. 



In this month the average precipitation in Massachusetts 

 was greater than any other New England State except 

 Rhode Island, while eastern Massachusetts and eastern 

 Maine received a greater snoAvfall and rainfall than any 

 other section of New England. The birds which were win- 

 tering in Plymouth, Bristol and Barnstable counties, and 

 which had already withstood the severity of January, were 

 exposed to another trying ex[)erience. Many of them were 

 unable to Avithstand it. At this time there were some birds 

 about. Robins were reported in Plymouth on the 2d and 

 bluebirds on the 5th by Miss L. A. Knapp. Later, Mr. 

 Tinkham rei)orted robins and bluebirds in small numbers in 

 Swansea. Reports began to come in that birds were dying 

 of cold and hunger. Appeals in the daily press requesting 

 })eople to feed birds were published quite generally by the 

 Audubon societies and Mr. Ernest Harold Baynes. 



Desiring to make a personal examination of existing con- 

 ditions and to secure facts for this report, I travelled through 

 central Massachusetts February 9, 10, 11 and 12, visiting 

 Berkshire County, stopping at Lenox, Pittsfield, Holyoke, 

 Amherst, Springfield and Worcester, learning as much as 

 possible on the way by personal observation, as well as by 

 calling on observing people. The month closed in a snow- 

 storm. 



