THE PLAINS AND COLORADO 131 



Among the small birds that were once plentiful 

 and are now practically unknown, is the black- 

 throated bunting. This bird was formerly of 

 local distribution, and common from the Middle 

 States southward. In my early collecting about 

 Princeton, the presence of black-throated buntings 

 was regular, but even then the nurnber of repre- 

 sentatives was not large. 



The wood-duck and the Bartramian sandpiper 

 formerly bred commonly in the region. On my 

 first trips up and down the Millstone River, 

 broods of wood-ducks were to be surely reckoned 

 on, and the Bartramian sandpiper was abundant, 

 breeding in all suitable large grass fields. Both 

 birds still occur in limited numbers as migrants, 

 and a few may rarely breed. It is clear, therefore, 

 that a change has been in progress during appre- 

 ciable time, and is going on even at the present. 



Manifestly the extermination of a bird like the 

 great auk, which did not possess the power of 

 flight, and which afforded to the seamen and ex- 

 plorers of early days fresh food in abundance, was 

 an event largely due to the direct acts of human 

 beings. That a bird like the Labrador duck 

 should, within the last fifty years, have dis- 

 appeared from the bird life of America, is not 

 only remarkable, but not so easily explained. 

 The history of the disappearance and some data 

 concerning the former occurrences of this duck 



