4) 
reduced in numbers that a law was passed making a close season 
from March 1 to September 1. In spite of this the decline con- 
tinued. Chapter 170, Acts of 1837, made a close season of four 
years upon this bird, which, by chapter 7, Acts of 1841, was 
extended for five years. These acts, however, permitted any 
town to suspend this law in that town for such a period as they 
deemed expedient. Some towns took advantage of this to secure 
special privileges for the inhabitants of that town; ¢.g., Tisbury, 
on May 6, 1842, “ Voted that the Law for the Preservation of 
the Grouse or Heath Hen be so far suspended in the town of 
Tisbury as to allow the inhabitants of said town to kill, take 
or sell Grouse or Heath Hens from the first day of December 
to the tenth day of December inclusive, provided they hunt them 
without the aid of dogs.” The action of a subsequent town 
meeting indicates that the decline in numbers was rapid. On 
April 1, 1850, the same town of Tisbury voted to suspend this 
law so as to permit the hunting (without dogs) of these birds on 
the ‘12 and 13 of November next.” (Perhaps for the purpose 
of providing a substitute for the Thanksgiving turkey.) From 
this period to 1905 there were no systematic attempts to enforce 
the law. The number of birds killed usually equaled or fre- 
quently exceeded the annual increase. The islanders resented 
the intrusion of non-resident hunters, but many birds were killed 
by rabbit hunters and by duck hunters crossing the island to the 
ducking stands on the south shore. Some birds were taken by 
collectors, and these skins, supplemented by others bearing 
fraudulent data, were disposed of extensively to museums and 
natural history stores. _ 
During all this period, however, there was kept alive the feel- 
ing of local pride in the heath hen as a peculiar possession of 
Martha’s Vineyard. It has been even stated that sentiments 
well-nigh voodoo-like in tendency were current on the island, 
e.g., that a boy must eat heath hen before reaching a certain age. 
The writer, however, from careful inquiry, is of the opinion that 
there is no basis for such statements. 
Since almost nothing has been recorded of the habits of the 
heath hen, the following notes, made by the writer on the spot, 
may be of interest : — 
