17 
It will be seen by the above table that ninety-four corre- 
spondents report birds as decreasing; only sixty-two report 
them as either holding their own or increasing. If we add 
to this number, however, the twenty who regard game birds 
or other larger species as diminishing, and song birds or the 
smaller species as stationary or increasing, we shall have 
eighty-two who believe that the smaller species are either 
stationary or increasing, against ninety-four who believe that 
all birds are decreasing. Next, we find that forty-three who 
report birds as rapidly diminishing live in or near the larger 
cities, where the principal causes of this diminution are most 
active. There are, then, only fifty-one persons, outside of 
the influence of the cities, who find birds generally decreas- 
ing, to eighty-two who find the smaller birds at least holding 
their own. This being the case, it seems probable that the 
smaller birds in general have not decreased greatly in Mas- 
sachusetts, as a whole, in recent years, except in and near 
the centers of population. Undoubtedly there are fluctua- 
tions in the numbers of certain species over large areas. 
There are local fluctuations also in the numbers of most 
species. Certain birds will be rare in a locality for a year 
or two, and then perhaps will be plentiful again. The re- 
ports plainly show such oscillations, but it may be doubted 
if there is any great and general decrease in all the smaller 
species. 
Mr. Hornaday, by pursuing a similar method of inquiry 
six years ago, arrived at a somewhat different conclusion. 
How can this discrepancy be explained? In the first place, 
Mr. Hornaday apparently based his Massachusetts report on 
the statements of only eleven people, as against those of two 
hundred who have responded to the present inquiry. In 
the second place, seven out of his eleven correspondents 
lived in or near cities, where birds were, or had been, de- 
creasing. 
But it may be said that the testimony taken by him was 
more in the nature of selected expert evidence than that ob- 
tained in the present inquiry. To meet this objection, ex- 
tracts from thirty-five reports have been selected. These 
observers may be said to belong to the same class as those 
