THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 13 
In addition to these observations in regard to colors, I found this 
Summer the male Humming Bird may be temperamental. Fach year the 
Humming Birds have seemed to dwell in harmony at he Brooks, but this 
year the male would not allow the female to sup nectar from the Colum- 
bine in his presence, though there was plenty for both. “There would be 
sharp notes and she would depart precipitately. At one time he was fright- 
ened away; she had the entire bed to herself. She took her fill, lighted on 
a twig and preened herself, had another feast of nectar, and flew away, this 
once, satisfied and with self-respect. 
|s the Heath Hen Extinct? 
By Autrrep O. Gross 
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine 
Is the “Last Heath Hen” alive or has the species finally become extinct? 
is a question being asked by all those who have followed the recent reports 
of the famous Martha’s Vineyard bird. It is, however, a question that 
cannot be definitely answered. ‘The last bird has been given the freedom 
to live its last days in a normal, natural environment on an island more than 
twenty miles in length. The interior of the island contains more than 15,000 
acres of low, bushy, almost impenetrable growth of scrub oak. ‘This ideal 
cover was one of the factors which enabled the Heath Hen to prolong its 
existence on Martha’s Vineyard long after it had vanished from all other 
parts of its range, which extended from Maine to the Carolinas. 
Each Spring, as was the custom of its ancestors, the lone bird appeared 
on the open fields with unfailing regularity. In the past the birds came 
for the courtship performances, but since there has been but one bird the 
booming and curious mating antics have been omitted. After the middle 
of June the Heath Hen retired to the scrub oaks to live a life of seclusion 
through the nesting and moulting season. In the fall, usually during Sep- 
tember and October, the birds again came out to the open fields to feed 
and continued to appear regularly during the Winter. In the first warm 
days of March the booming of the courtship was heard, a performance which 
reached its maximum by the middle of May. 
Since December 8, 1928, there has been but one bird reported, but this 
lone individual has come regularly each Spring and each Fall to an open 
field on the farm of James Green near West Tisbury. This past Autumn, 
for the first time, it has failed to appear. It is now nearly eight months 
since it was last seen, on May 9, 1931. During the past few months the 
state game wardens, ornithologists and scores of interested observers have 
searched the fields and scrub oaks in vain to get a glimpse of the last Heath 
