BULLETIN 
OF THE 
NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 
Vol. I. SEPTEMBER, 1876. No. 3. 
DECEEASE OF BIRDS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
BY J. A. ALLEN. 
Unfortunately very few data are obtainable relative to the 
birds which inhabited Massachusetts at the time of its first ex- 
ploration and settlement, nearly three hundred years ago. The 
smaller species attracted little attention here, as elsewhere in North 
America, prior to the beginning of the present century. A few 
notices of the larger species occur in the early accounts of the pro- 
ductions and “commodities” of the State, which are sufficiently defi- 
nite and trustworthy to show that a few species then common have 
since been nearly or wholly extirpated, and that a number of others 
are far less numerous now than they were in the early colonial days. 
The number of indigenous species thus far recognized as belong- 
ing to the fauna of the State is about three hundred and ten. Two 
of these (the Great Auk, Alca impennis, and the Wild Turkey, Melea- 
gris gallopavo var. occidentalis) have become wholly extirpated, and 
two others (the Pinnated Grouse, Cupidonia cupido, and the Ameri- 
can Swan, Cygnus americamis) are so nearly that the former is 
found at only one or two limited localities and the latter is but a 
chance visitor. Another (the Brown or Sandhill Crane, Grus cana- 
densis)^ and perhaps a second (the White or Whooping Crane, Grus 
americamis), will be presently shown to have been formerly inhab- 
itants of the State, though extirpated at so early a date that they 
have not as yet been recognized as belonging to its fauna. That 
several others have likewise greatly decreased in numbers will be 
shown in the present article. These are the Red-winged Blackbird 
(Agelaeus phoeniceus), the Purple Grakle {Quiscalus purpiireus), the 
Crow {Gorvus americamis), the Raven {Corvus corax), the Pileated 
