52 
bank swallows in Essex County.” 1 This statement was pub- 
lished on the authority of a friend, who made rather an ex- 
haustive canvass of the county about 1895, and found that 
the breeding birds had disappeared from all localities where 
they were formerly known, so far as he could learn. The 
published statement brought information from three differ- 
ent parts of the county, showing that bank swallows are 
still breeding there, and increasing rather than diminishing. 
While the evidence regarding the entire State seems to indi- 
cate a rather general decrease of these birds, it is not so con- 
vincing as in the case of either the barn or cliff swallows. 
In looking over all the evidence, it seems as if these two 
species have decreased most in the eastern part of the State, 
while the purple martin has, up to 1903, decreased most in 
the western counties. On the whole, the evidence of com- 
petent observers agrees with my own observation, which in- 
dicates that breeding swallows have been diminishing gradu- 
ally for thirty years, although they still hold their own in 
many localities. 
The only other significant or progressive decrease of a 
species as shown by these reports is that of the house wren. 
Five observers report an increase, eight report the numbers 
unchanged, and thirty-eight report the birds as decreasing, 
becoming extinct, or absent in the breeding season. When 
it is considered that these reports come mainly from local- 
ities where the house wren was once common, their signifi- 
cance is apparent. Thirty or forty years ago the bird was 
found about many of the cities in Massachusetts ; now it is 
rarely seen. It seems to be decreasing in every county on 
the mainland. In my own experience this bird has become 
rare or wanting, within thirty years, in nearly every locality 
where I once knew it to be common. 
There is some evidence that the red-headed woodpecker 
was common locally at one time. The Rev. T. B. Eorbush 
told me in 1870 that it was common about Westborough, 
Worcester County, up to about 1850. He knew the bird 
well, and identified it at sight. Mr. J. M. Van Huyck of 
Lee, Berkshire County, writes that the red-head was once 
“ Agriculture in Massachusetts,” 1903, p. 479. 
