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RARER BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 571 
different years as this. In my Catalogue it is mentioned as 
“extremely rare” at Springfield, but as occurring frequently 
in the eastern part of the state. Since then a number of 
specimens have been taken at Springfield, and others at 
Westfield, Chicopee and Holyoke. Dr. Wood says that it 
“has been very uncommon at East Windsor Hill, except in 
1867, when it was as common as the Black-billed. I ob- 
tained,” he adds, “three sets of eggs during that season ; 
have seen none this year.”* I think it was in 1867 that it 
was so unusually common at the other above-mentioned 
localities, but it was also taken at Springfield in 1866. Mr. 
Scott says he does not think it “extremely rare," as he 
has obtained four or five specimens without special effort. 
In the eastern part of the state I find it is not gener- 
ally so numerous as I had supposed. It seems to be common 
here only at irregular intervals, when it sometimes appears 
to be as numerous as the Black-billed species, but sometimes 
it is scarcely observed for several seasons. Mr. Maynard 
says it was common about Newton during 1866, when the 
Black-billed was rare, but that it has not been so since that 
year, while the latter has been abundant. If the very large 
collections of birds from a considerable number of lotion 
in New England in the Museum of Comparative Zoólogy can 
be taken as any index of their relative abundance in the 
Eastern States, the Black-billed species may be considered 
às, on the average, a hundred fold more numerous than the 
other. 
YzrLow-sELLIED WooDpPECKER. Sphyrapicus varius 
Baird. As observed by Dr. Coues,f this bird may be com- 
mon in summer at many localities in New England. But in 
this state, so far as I can learn, it is rare at all seasons in 
that portion east of the Connecticut, and generally seen only 
in the fall. Not so, however, to the westward and north- 
ward; but I doubt its being any more numerous in Rhode 


* In epist., Oct. 22, 1868. 
t In List of the Birds of New England, 1. c., p. 262. 
