Birds of Massachusetts and other New England states

Part I. Water Birds, Marsh Birds And Shore Birds

Illustrated with Colored Plates from Drawings by LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES

AND

Figures and Cuts from Drawings and Photographs by THE AUTHOR AND OTHERS

ISSUED BY AUTHORITY OF THE LEGISLATURE 1928

Copyright, 1925,

BY THE

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

Reprinted October, 1928

HortoootJ IBrras

T, S. Oushine Co. — Berwick & Smith Co.

Norwood, Mass.. U.S.A.

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, DEPARTMENT OF

AGRICULTURE

The economic value of birds to the people of the Commonwealth has been long considered important. This Commonwealth has recognized its importance by devoting a special division of the Department of Agriculture to the study of birds and their relation;; to the activities of its people. But Massachusetts citizens value birds, not merely fo* their usefulness in destroying insect pests or in bringing profits or affording sport — we also regard them highly for their esthetic value and the joy they bring into our lives. There is therefore every reason for the State to interest itself in their study and protection.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is fortunate in having the services of one of the country's foremost authorities in economic ornithology, Edward Howe Forbush. Mr. Forbush is known to a wide public through his able and authoritative writings, and his many articles in magazines and newspapers. Two books, Useful Birds and Their Protection, and Game Birds, Wild-Fowl and Shore Birds, both written by him and published by the State, have proven very popular and valuable. The former has run through three editions, the latter through two editions, and both are now out of print.

Mr. Forbush inaugurated a new epoch in bird study when he began to issue on behalf of the State his monthly bulletins. These summarized the reports he received every month from numerous correspondents in this and other New England states, as well as Canada and along the North Atlantic seaboard, and gave new knowledge of the effect of storms, cold waves and the like on the distribution and movements of birds. More recently hitherto unknown facts revealed by bird-banding have been reported in these bulletins.

The ripe fruits of his life work in the field of ornithology are now being incorporated in The Birds of Massachusetts. This is the first complete and comprehensive work on the birds of this State. It marks notable advances in our knowledge of the local distribution of species and handles the recondite subject of molts and plumages.

There is reason to believe that this work when completed in the three volumes with colored plates by Fuertes, the foremost ornithological artist in this countiy, will constitute a notable contribution to the literature of ornithology, and will afford a valuable source of reference to all students of birds as well as bird lovers.

Arthur W. Gilbert, Commissioner.

iii

Preface

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts never has issued any publication containing full descriptions and colored plates of the birds recorded within its boundaries. In 1839 a report was made to the Great and General Court of Massachusetts by Rev. William B. 0. Peabody, which contained a list of the birds of Massachusetts with annotations on two hundred and eighty-six species. In 1864 the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture published, in connection with the eleventh annual report of its Secretary for the year 1863, an annotated list of two hundred and eighty-seven species, prepared by Mr. Edward A. Samuels. The Commonwealth also assisted Mr. Samuels in publishing the Birds of New England (1870) by purchasing and distributing a considerable numbdr of copies of the work.

In 1907 the first edition of Useful Birds and Their Protection containing brief descriptions of a part of the birds of the State was issued by the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture. In 1912 the first edition of A History of the Game Birds, Wildfowl and Shore Birds of Massachusetts and Adjacent States was issued by the same agency of the Commonwealth. Both of these works, however, were chiefly economic and treated only a part of the birds of the Commonwealth, stressing their utility and the means of conserving them.

Many papers on the birds of Massachusetts have been published within the last fifty years, notably the Birds of Massachusetts, by Messrs. Reginald Heber Howe Jr., and Glover M. Allen, but most of them are mere local lists with annotations, and not one of them contains adequate descriptions or colored plates of the species. The demand for such information as plates and descriptions alone can furnish has grown insistent with the years. Not only do people of rural communities seek such knowledge ; the great and increasing army of bird students also requires it.

Birds may be ranked among the noblest forms of life. Experience has shown that without special protection at the hands of man many species are likely to become extinct. Some of those that are hunted as game now need special care. Licenses to hunt certain birds within the borders of the Commonwealth are issued to citizens annually, and the number of such hunters now approximates one hundred thousand. Probably most of these hunters would be unable to recognize all the birds that they are privileged to shoot under their licenses, to say nothing of the large number of species that are protected by law. Many people who hunt birds desire such information concerning them as it is purposed to include in the present volume. The book is intended, therefore, to fill a long-felt want.

v vi

PREFACE

The objects of the work are: (1) to interest the general public of Massachusetts and New England in birds and their rational conservation, (2) to provide our citizens with a means of identifying birds in the field or in the hand, (3) to furnish such other information regarding birds as the people desire and need. Long experience as State Ornithologist in answering their questions has perhaps qualified the author in some degree for the latter service.

The author is under great obligation to Mr. John A. Farley for editing the volume and for constant assistance and advice ; to Messrs. Samuel Henshaw and Outram Bangs for the privilege of examining specimens in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College ; to Mr. James Peters at the Museum for assistance there, and to Drs. Harry C. Oberholser and C. W. Richmond for extending similar privileges at the National Museum at Washington ; also to Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood, of the Field Museum, Chicago, and Drs. Frank M. Chapman and Jonathan Dwight, of the American Museum, New York, all of whom have freely offered the privileges of the collections under their charge. Mr. W. Sprague Brooks, of the Boston Society of Natural History, also granted the privilege of examining his collection, as did Messrs. Frederic H. Kennard and A. Cleveland Bent. Mr. Kennard also furnished many notes, including the field notes of the late Mr. F. B. McKechnie, and Mr. Bent has been extremely kind and helpful in many ways. Col. John E. Thayer tendered the use of his great collection of North American birds and their nests and eggs. Dr. B. H. Warren of Pennsylvania contributed many notes and much useful information, including weights of many game-birds. Mr. W. L. McAtee sent proof sheets of his "Local Names of Migratory Game Birds." The following persons from various New England states have given valuable aid in various ways : Messrs. Arthur H. Norton of Maine ; Karl A. Pember and George L. Kirk of Vermont ; Herbert Parker, Aaron C. Bagg, Winthrop Packard, Albert A. Cross, Charles L. Whittle, Laurence B. Fletcher, Joseph A. Hagar and F. H. Scott of Massachusetts ; Harry S. Hathaway of Rhode Island ; C. W. Vibert, Wilbur Smith, Aretas A. Saunders, Lester W. Smith and E. W. Schmidt of Connecticut. Dr. Arthur A. Allen of Cornell University has contributed photographs and notes.

Mr. Arthur Stubbs and many others have submitted field notes or migration data, and about 400 correspondents, many of them official observers in ornithology for the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture, have contributed notes on the migrations and habits of birds. The author is greatly indebted to Mr. Louis Agassiz Fuertes, the artist, who has illustrated this volume, for cordial cooperation and assistance and the use of field notes in respect to the colors of the soft parts of water birds. The J. Horace McFarland Co. and D. Appleton and Co. have kindly furnished some electrotypes and permitted their use.

Permission to quote from the Practical Handbook of British Birds should be acknowledged. Ornithologists everywhere are indebted to Messrs. H. F. and G. Witherby, who have produced this excellent handbook which contains much original work by specialists. Acknowledgment should also be given to the following persons and publishing firms for

PREFACE vii authority to quote from or refer to the publications set against their names : Dr. Joseph Grinnell, The Game Birds of California ; Mr. Ralph Hoffmann, A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York; Dr. Charles W. Townsend, Audubon's Labrador and other publications; The Marshall Jones Co., Dr. Townsend's Beach Grass; Dr. Frank M. Chapman, Camps and Cruises of an Ornithologist, and Bird-Lore ; L. C. Page and Co., Key to North American Birds ; Dr. Glover M. Allen and Mr. Reginald Heber Howe Jr., The Birds of Massachusetts; Mr. Howe and Mr. Edward Sturtevant, The Birds of Rhode Island ; The University Society, Birds of America. The Editor of The Nation and The Athenaeum gives permission to quote from an article by Mr. J. B. Massingham.

Mr. J. H. Fleming, of Toronto, has placed the author under great obligation by revising the geographical distribution of the species.

It remains to acknowledge the services of those who have given advice and information on technical subjects : Dr. Witmer Stone, of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and Drs. H. C. Oberholser and T. S. Palmer, of the Biological Survey, have been especially kind in this regard.

From the inception of the undertaking, the members of the Department of Agriculture have consistently supported the project. Dr. Arthur W. Gilbert, Commissioner of Agriculture, has strongly advocated the necessary appropriations before legislative committees, and has given the author that constant and cordial support without which the publication would have been impossible.