26 
disappeared locally as breeders; and tree swallows, which 
are possibly less abundant as migrants.” 
His Excellency Theodore Roosevelt, president of the 
United States, who is an accurate observer of animal life, 
writes from his home on Long Island, H. Y. : “ Here at 
Oyster Bay my observations have gone over thirty-one years. 
During that time I do not believe there has been any 
diminution in the number of birds, as a whole. Quail and 
woodcock are not as plentiful as they were; I am inclined 
to think that last winter (1903-04) may have been hard 
on quail around here. But, on the other hand, there are 
one or two other wild birds that, I think, have increased in 
numbers.” Later he wrote, in response to an inquiry re- 
garding the shore birds : “ During my time there have never 
been any but scattering shore birds in my neighborhood on 
the north shore of Long Island, and there are now as many 
of these as there ever were. During the same period there 
has been a great diminution in the shore birds, once so plenti- 
ful, in the Great South Bay on the south shore of Long 
Island, as I happen to know, because my uncle lives there.” 
Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright of Fairfield, Conn., says that, 
speaking locally for Fairfield and ten miles inland, some 
species have decreased, others have held their own. The 
great horned owl is nearly extinct. Wood ducks have be- 
come very rare within ten years ; also mourning doves ; scar- 
let tanagers and shore birds in general have decreased. 
Mr. E. Hart Geer, secretary of the Connecticut Commis- 
sion of Fisheries and Game, writes that shore birds have 
decreased greatly, and that river ducks have decreased every 
year. He says that there was as good a flight during the fall 
of 1904 as was consistent with the “ extermination due to 
unrestricted shooting.” 
Mr. Harry Hathaway writes from Providence, R. I. : 
“ The shore birds, game birds, hawks and owls are decreas- 
ing in the State generally, but no appreciable decrease is 
occurring in other species, and some few species are increas- 
ing in numbers.” He says that a fair estimate of the de- 
crease of the birds named would be one-half in fifteen years, 
but that this may be too large, as his observations have been 
