37 
winter along the Connecticut. The hooded merganser, once, 
like the wood duck, very common, is growing rare, and is 
now the rarest of the mergansers. 
Family Ardeidce. — Herons. 
It seems probable that herons are decreasing in many 
localities. Thirty-five persons report them as decreasing, 
twelve report them as unchanged in numbers, and five state 
that night herons are increasing. My own experience, to- 
gether with that of others in whose judgment I have great 
confidence, seems to indicate that in general these birds are 
not now decreasing rapidly. The law passed in 1904, giving 
them protection at all times, was no doubt necessary to their 
preservation, as their size alone dooms them to constant per- 
secution. 
The least bittern keeps very closely hidden in the mead- 
ows or swamps, and is seldom seen by the ordinary observer. 
While it probably has been driven out of many localities by 
the draining of meadows, I hear its note in suitable places 
quite as often as I did when a hoy. 
The green heron has grown less common where boys or 
foreigners do much shooting; 'elsewhere it probably does not 
vary much in numbers, except where the trees or shrubs in 
which it breeds are cut away. In the localities which I 
have frequented in 1904, however, it has been less common 
than usual. 
The American bittern was driven out of many of its breed- 
ing places by floods in 1903. Breeding birds have disap- 
peared from a certain locality in Wareham where they were 
formerly seen. This was probably due to shooting. On the 
other hand, they were more common along the river in Con- 
cord in 1904 than in 1903. On the whole, the bittern seems 
to be holding its own fairly well, excepting near the cities. 
The great blue heron no doubt formerly bred abundantly 
in some localities in Massachusetts. In September, 1874, I 
saw what seemed to be a nest of this species in North Brook- 
field; but I know of no recent record of its breeding in the 
State, and it was probably driven out long ago. 1 It visits 
1 Since the above was written I have been told by Mr. J. A. Farley that a single nest 
of this species has been found recently in the State by Mr. C. E. Bailey. 
