90 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



colony was much reduced in numbers, but later other birds 

 came and nested in more than half of the boxes. Late in May 

 reports began to come in that many warblers and other birds 

 had been picked up dead or dying. 



For the purpose of getting information from all parts of the 

 State regarding the effect of the season on birds, hundreds of 

 letters were sent out to people who were interested in the sub- 

 ject, and replies were received from every county in the State. 

 These replies indicated that very many birds had died of starva- 

 tion or cold in the latter weeks of May in every part of the 

 State except the southeastern portion, where, although birds 

 apparently were bard pushed to find sufficient sustenance, there 

 is no evidence that any great number succumbed to the adverse 

 conditions. On Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket there was a 

 considerable supply of insect food, and the temperatures were 

 not so low as in other parts of the State. Such birds as perished 

 there and on Cape Cod were mostly victims of the severe wind 

 and rain or snow storms, or of high storm tides. 



In going over the reports from various correspondents the 

 first fact almost universally observed was that of an unusual 

 flight of birds, particularly insect-eating species, such as warblers. 

 Only a very few observers had not noticed this. The next fact 

 noted was that the birds were much less shy than usual, and 

 that they were seen more about houses, in villages and closer 

 to the ground than in ordinary seasons. The warblers were so 

 weak and so preoccupied in seeking food that many of them 

 could almost be taken by hand, and as they grew weaker some 

 were so caught. Mr. Harold W. Copeland reports that in 

 Bridgewater a redstart flew into a room and alighted on a man's 

 shoulder. Miss Dorothy S. McBurney of Stockbridge reports a 

 warbler as flying to a child's shoulder, after its mate had been 

 killed by a cat, and refusing to leave its warm perch. Many 

 people did not recognize this lack of shyness and the tendency 

 of the birds to cluster about buildings as a sign of suffering or 

 starvation until it was seen that the birds were becoming so 

 weak that they could be captured by hand, and that many of 

 them were dying. Although most observers believed that the 

 flight of birds was very much greater than usual, this seeming 

 abundance may have been largely due to the fact that the wood 



