220 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



winter. If these breed freely and at all successfully, 

 there should be a total of fully 500, young and old to- 

 gether, at the beginning of the present autumn. When 

 one considers the limited area to which these birds are 

 confined, it is evident that within this area they must 

 be reasonably abundant. I was assured that with the 

 aid of a good dog it was not at all difficult to start 

 twenty-five or thirty in a day, and on one occasion eight 

 were killed by two guns. This, however, can be done 

 only by those familiar with the country and the habits 

 of the birds." 



The fact that but a small remnant was left of this 

 once widely distributed species aroused much interest 

 in it, and after a time the Massachusetts authorities 

 began to consider measures for its preservation. Be- 

 fore any steps looking to its preservation had been 

 taken, the numbers of the birds had still further di- 

 minished, and observations made on the island from 

 October, 1906, to May, 1907, at a time when they were 

 collected in large flocks, seemed to justify the conclu- 

 sion that the number of individuals was less than one 

 hundred. 



The report of the commissioners on fisheries and 

 game for the year ending December 31, 1907, declares 

 that by actual count of the flocks located in various 

 sections of the range, seventy-seven individuals were 

 enumerated. In May, 1906, a destructive forest fire 

 swept practically the entire breeding grounds, and very 

 few birds were reared that season. The summer of 

 1907, however, was a favorable one. At least ten 



