Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 
County of Hampden, 
OFFICE OF CLERK OF THE COURTS. 
Spingfidd, Mas., ... Necambsr...17th,...1900........ 
Dear Sir:= 
Replying to your letter of the 15th inst. I have made no 
record, not considering the evidence from the source you refer to 
sufficient, unless corroborated. I have often wondered why so great 
a difference exists between the fauna here and down the valley towards 
the mouth of the Connecticut river. Last summer I had near Say- 
brook a cottage; going back sand forth each week, I then realized how 
easy it was to reach from here a place where so many southern birds 
were common and even abundant, while near Springfield the same are 
rare or entirely absent. There the Hooded Warbler, Worm=sating 
Warbler &c are common,and the Chat, White-eyed Vireo, and Purple Mar— 
tin are abundant; the altitude is about the same, the river at 
Springfield being only forty feet above tide water; the flora ite 
temperature does not vary much. I am quite sure that I have seen 
the American Eider near Springfield, but as I grow older, I am more 
particular that the proof should be positive before making a record. 
No unusual winter visitors have yet appeared here, and the year 
has not been especially eventful. There was an immense flight of 
Warblers in the spring, but the Dendroica tigrina was the only really 
rare one I found. The last of May a pair of Loxia curvirostra minor 



