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reports show it; or they have recently begun to study birds, 
and see more of them now than in former years. Others are 
pessimistic, or have become imbued with the popular belief 
that all our birds are being exterminated rapidly. Some are 
elderly people, who do not, perhaps, see or hear as clearly as 
in their youth and are not so much afield, and so do not 
notice as many birds as in their younger days. Some reports 
come from densely populated regions, where many causes 
operate to destroy or drive out the birds ; others come from 
more sparsely peopled regions, where the birds and their 
natural enemies are not so much interfered with. These 
personal or environmental differences tend to produce con- 
tradictory reports. Where there is conflicting testimony, it 
must be weighed carefully, and all contradictions considered 
by the one who has to render the final verdict. In this, the 
evidence of those naturalists who for years have kept careful 
notes of the number of each species of bird seen should have 
the most weight. 
A Summary of Reports, by Counties. 
Below is a summary, by counties, of the reports regard- 
ing the gain or loss in numbers of birds in the State for the 
past ten to forty years. The questions asked were : — 
1. Are birds decreasing in your locality, county, or in the State 
generally ? 
2. How do their numbers compare with those of ten years ago? 
Three-fourths as many, one-half, one-third, or do they remain 
about the same? 
3. Has the decrease (if any) been continuing for twenty, thirty 
or forty years, or longer? 
Some correspondents failed to answer these questions, and 
others answered rather indefinitely. The definite answers 
received are tabulated below. Seventy-three of those who 
regard birds generally as diminishing in numbers estimate 
the percentage of decrease as follows: one, 10 per cent; one, 
12/4 per cent; twenty-one, 25 per cent; one, 30 per cent; 
six, 33 % per cent; thirty-three, 50 per cent; five, 66% per 
cent; three, 75 per cent; two, 90 per cent. Eleven state that 
