248 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



ground is common to several species of this order. Mr. D. T. 

 Cowing of Hadley writes that quite a flock was raised in 1906 

 on the Oxbow, a tributary of the Connecticut River; that one 

 man killed one hundred and thirty birds there, and that a few 

 have been seen since (1908). 



About one-half my correspondents in Massachusetts have 

 either not seen or recognized the Snipe in their localities. Nine 

 report it as increasing in number in their neighborhoods, — one 

 each in Hampden, Worcester and Plymouth counties and six 

 in Barnstable County. One hundred and nine report it as 

 decreasing: two in Hampshire County, two in Hampden, six 

 in Worcester, twenty-one in Middlesex, twenty-one in Essex, 

 six in Norfolk, eighteen in Plymouth, six in Bristol, sixteen in 

 Barnstable, two in Dukes and four in Nantucket. Five report 

 it rare in eastern Massachusetts generally. We must make some 

 allowance for the fact that most gunners do not now watch the 

 spring flights, when the larger numbers appear, for spring shoot- 

 ing is prohibited. In some of the localities where I shot Snipe 

 thirty to forty years ago not one is ever seen now. This may 

 be owing in part to the building up of the region; but I be- 

 lieve that along the Charles River meadows, where I shot as a 

 boy, the birds have decreased since about one-half. 



The reports seem to show that there are very few Snipe in 

 Berkshire, Hampshire and Hampden counties, except along , 

 the Connecticut River or its tributaries. Near Springfield 

 Mr. Robert O. Morris does not see any great decrease. Much 

 of the territory of the western counties is not fit for the Snipe, 

 and it probably never was very common anywhere there, 

 except along the river valleys. Several correspondents, how- 

 ever, regard the bird as having decreased ninety per cent. 

 Throughout Worcester County the same condition exists. 

 The Snipe is almost unknown in the wooded hill towns where 

 the Woodcock is common, but here and there it crops up, 

 though mainly in decreasing numbers. 



The tales of the decimation of this bird that come from 

 many parts of the State are rather pathetic. We would not 

 expect to find many Snipe among the hills of northern Worces- 

 ter County; but in the valley of the Blackstone, south of 



