No. 4.] REPORT OF STATE ORNITHOLOGIST. 225 



I endeavored to get some of the dead birds, but was able to 

 secure but one which had actually died of starvation, l"u- 

 doubtedlv, however, there were others. Mr. Allan Keniston 

 wrote me from Edgartown that he had seen the remains of 

 a few ducks on the ice, but that the starving crows attacked 

 them as soon as they were dead, stripping the flesh from their 

 bones, so that it was impossible often to determine the cause 

 of their death. It is quite probable that the cold actually 

 killed some of the starving and weakened ducks. In my in- 

 quiry I endeavore<l to learn whether a similar condition was 

 known elsewhere. ^Ir. Wilbur F. Smith, County Game 

 Warden of Fairfield County, Conn., wrote that the ice along 

 the coast of Long Island Sound was very heavy and long- 

 continued, and that the black ducks suffered severely. As 

 they sat around on the ice waiting for it to break up, many of 

 them starved and froze to death. He stated that at the mouth 

 of the Housatonic River the ice was solidly frozen for the 

 first time in the memory of the inhabitants, but opposite 

 Milford point, inside the mouth, an open space remained 

 where the current is very strong, and there the ducks from 

 all about congregated to feed. It was estimated that there 

 were nearly 10,000 birds, mostly broadbills with a lesser 

 number of black ducks. There were only a few places where 

 the black ducks could feed, and they apparently soon used up 

 the food supply and began to crawl in under the rocks of the 

 breakwater in their hunt for food. He believes that at the 

 time the ice broke there were large numbers of black ducks 

 that were so near starvation that had the ice lasted one week 

 longer they woidd have died of hunger, as they hardly had 

 strength enough to get out of the water. He found 46 black 

 ducks, 3 broadbills, 1 mallard and 1 " apparently a female 

 pintail " which, he believes, starved or froze to death. He 

 believes that it was fortunate for the birds that hunting was 

 not permitted in the winter months, as in that case many of 

 the birds would have been slaughtered and hundreds of 

 others driven out on the ice to starve to death. This is the 

 only case where T have been able to secure positive informa- 

 tion that any considerable number of ducks had starved, but 



