No. 4.] REPORT OF STATE ORNITHOLOGIST. 249 



The investigation into tlie history and present status of 

 the game birds, shoi'e birds and wild fowl of the Common- 

 wealth, which was begun in 1908, has been continued through- 

 out the year 1909. A large correspondence has been kept 

 up with sportsmen, naturalists and others familiar with past 

 and present conditions, not only in Massachusetts but in the 

 other States of the Atlantic seaboard and the Provinces of 

 Canada, through which the migratory species range. Many 

 narratives of early explorers have been examined for refer- 

 ences to the important sjDecies. The causes of the extinction 

 of some birds and the extirpation of others, as well as those 

 for the decline of many, have been sought, and the remedies 

 for the present game depletion have been found. This 

 material, when condensed, will form an illustrated report of 

 not over four hundred pages, describing the species of game 

 birds now existing in this Commonwealth and exhibiting 

 the causes of the extirpation and extinction of those that have 

 disappeared. Before the report can be published an appro- 

 priation will be required for printing. 



One important part of the work of the year was a survey 

 to determine whether the birds that had been greatly reduced 

 in numbers by inclement or unseasonable weather or violent 

 action of the elements in recent years were recovering. 



The Recovery of those Species of Birds decimated 

 BY THE Elements in 1903 and 1904. 



Causes of Destruction. 

 In the spring and early summer of 1903 an extreme 

 drought, accompanied by forest fires, was followed by a series 

 of long, cold storms and floods, and the ensuing winter was 

 exceptionally severe. The destruction of birds by the ele- 

 ments during these abnormal seasons was very marked. Rails 

 disappeared from the flooded meadows, and the eggs and 

 young of most of the smaller birds, excepting some that nes- 

 ted under good shelter, were destroyed. The eggs and young 

 of game birds suffered excessively.^ Both young and adults 



1 Forbush, Edward Howe, "Destruction of Rirrts by the Elements in 1903-1004," 

 annual report of tlie Rlassacliusetts State Board of Agriculture, 1903, pp. 455 to 503. 



