ON THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE DICK CISSEL (SPIZA AMERI- 
CANA) FROM THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
BY 
Hugh M. Smith, 
Assistant, U. S. Fish Commission. 
While it is a matter of no great rarity for certain of the larger birds 
inhabiting a particular region to become scarce, or locally extinct, be- 
cause of the direct persecution and slaughter carried on by man or on 
account of the cutting away of forests and other similar procedures, 
instances of the disappearance of small birds from a locality which they 
have regularly frequented are by no means common, especially when 
this disappearance is independent of the agency of man. 
Such is the case of the Dick Cissel in the viciuity of Washington. At 
one time an abundant summer visitant, it is now a veritable rara avis. 
Speaking of this subject in their “Avifauna Columbiana,” Coues and 
Prentiss say : 
This bird used to arrive regularly about the first of May, and leave toward the 
end of September, meanwhile being very abundant. * * * Now, however, the 
bird appears to have forsaken us, few if any having been heard of for the past few 
years. * * * Whatever the cause, it is one of the most remarkable changes in the 
bird fauna of the immediate vicinity of the city. 
This was in 1883. At the present time there can be no doubt that 
the species is nothing more than the most accidental straggler, since 
only one bird has been observed during the past fifteen years, notwith- 
standing the activity of the local collectors in searching for the species. 
The late Professor Baird stated a short time before his death that he 
remembered when the Dick Cissel nested commonly in the Smithsonian 
Grounds, and he was accustomed to observe the birds daily at the 
proper season as he passed to and from his work in the Institution. 
Through the courtesy of Mr. Bidgway, the Curator of the Department 
of Birds, it has been possible to prepare the following list, showing all 
Proceedings National Museum, Vol. XIII — No. 806. 
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