USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume II > Part 19
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume II > Part 19
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LONG ISLAND BIRD LIFE
many of the rare birds now included in the various ornithological collections of this country.
The Long Island Historical Society, organized in 1863, instituted a Natural History Department soon after it was established with Mr. Elias Lewis, Jr., acting as curator. A fine collection of Long Island birds was made which later was given to the Brooklyn Museum. The nucleus of this collection was that begun by Colonel Pike in 1830. Many of the birds were obtained in Kings County, at that time largely woods and farm lands. A large number of game birds and many rare species were brought by professional hunters to Fulton Market, the depot for the sale of produce from Long Island. Mr. Akhurst, Brooklyn taxidermist who mounted many of the birds, would visit the market early in the morning hoping to find some new and strange specimen. He procured many birds from a market man known as Old Jake who, traveling twice a week from Babylon to Brooklyn, would bring him whatever he secured during his trips along the south shore. Local gunners, of whom there were many in Brooklyn, also brought rarities to Mr. Akhurst.
Further records of birds at this western end of Long Island at this time are found in Franklin Benner's Bird Notes from Long Island in an 1878 issue of Forest and Stream. Mr. Benner tells of the many birds nesting in Astoria within a mile of the ferry landing. He lists the White-eyed Vireo as being common there and says that every piece of woods contains a nest or two of the Green Heron. But the Black-crowned Night Heron, abundant there five or six years before, was rapidly leaving as docks were being built on their nesting grounds. Yellow Warblers, Maryland Yellow-throats, Least Fly- catchers and Wood Thrush were found there with the Robins, Cat- birds, orioles and various types of sparrows. But Mr. Benner com- plains that "the woods in Fall are overrun by pseudo-sportsmen, who shoot anything and everything-Robins, Sparrows, Warblers. The local destruction of all the small birds and songsters is getting to be intolerable."
An enthusiastic observer of Long Island bird life in those days was Theodore Roosevelt. Indeed, the first work which he had pub- lished while yet a young man, in March, 1879, was a pamphlet giving notes on some of the birds of Oyster Bay. Many of the specimens of birds, among them a Passenger Pigeon, obtained by Mr. Roosevelt in this area are included in the ornithological collection of the United States National Museum in Washington, D. C. In his Outdoor Pas- times of an American Hunter, written in 1905, Roosevelt expresses the opinion that although there had been a lamentable decrease in the shore birds which used to flock along the southern shore in the last thirty years, he thought there was no diminution of small bird life. "In northern Long Island in the neighborhood of my own home, birds taken as a whole, are quite as plentiful as they were when I was a boy. There are one or two species which have decreased in number. Notably the Woodcock; while the Passenger Pigeon, which was then a rarely seen straggler, does not now appear at all. Bob-whites are less plentiful. On the other hand, some birds have certainly increased
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LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
in numbers. This is true, for instance, of the conspicuously beautiful and showy Scarlet Tanager. I think Meadow-larks are rather more plentiful than they were, and Wrens less so. Bluebirds have never been common with us, but are now rather more common than formerly .. It seems to me as if the Chickadees are more numerous than for- merly. Purple Grackles are more plentiful than when I was a boy, and the far more attractive Red-wing Blackbirds less so. But these may all be, and doubtless must be, purely local changes, which apply only to our immediate neighborhood. As regards most of the birds, it would be hard to say that there has been any change. Of course, obvious local causes will now and then account for a partial change. Thus while the Little Green Herons are quite as plentiful as formerly in our immediate neighborhood, the Black-crowned Night Herons are not as plentiful, because they abandoned their big heronry on Lloyds Neck upon the erection of a sandmill close by. The only ducks which are now or at any time during the last thirty years have been abun- dant in our neighborhood are the Surf Ducks or Scoters and the Old Squaws."
In the preface to his book, Birds of the New York City Region, which included Long Island, published in 1923, Ludlow Griscom, then Assistant Curator of Ornithology at the American Museum of Natural History, points out that with the increase of active bird students in all sections, a mass of records has been gathered so that our knowl- edge of our birds, their status and distribution has greatly. increased. A change in attitude toward birds is also indicated by Griscom's com- ment, "Bearing in mind, however, the fact that the majority of bird lovers now happily use the glass instead of the gun, the problem of identifying birds in life has largely replaced the problem of how to get near enough to kill them."
In recent years much constructive work in the study of birds and their wanderings has been carried on at the Bird Banding Station at Ehuhurst, Long Island, sponsored by the Audubon Society and carried on by Marie V. Beals and J. T. Nichols. For eleven years, from 1929 through 1939, records of the thousands of birds banded there together with records of hundreds of these same birds as they were recovered elsewhere were analyzed and reported to the United States Bureau of Biological Survey.
With the passing of the years, Long Island's list of birds has grown and new nesting records have been made. Griscom considered the Yellow-crowned Night Heron a casual visitant from the south and knew of but eight records of its occurrence. Allan D. Cruickshank, in his Birds Around New York City, published in 1942, expresses the belief that the first breeding record of this Heron in New York State was that made by him of twelve pairs nesting in a swamp near Mas- sapequa in 1938. A nest with three eggs was found in Great Neck in May, 1941. Today it is suspected that this species breeds farther east on Long Island also. Dozens of sight records are turned in annually, the number increasing each year.
The discovery of the Black Skimmer nesting on Gilgo Island in Great South Bay was one of the local ornithological highlights of 1934.
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LONG ISLAND BIRD LIFE
There are now three nesting colonies on the south shore of Long Island with a total population of at least forty pairs and it is believed that the breeding birds will increase and spread.
In July, 1940, what appears to be the first unquestionable record of the Coot nesting on Long Island was made when a pair of adults with five young were observed at Mill Creek Sanctuary, near Oyster Bay.
The first definite Long Island breeding record for the Prairie Horned Lark was made in May, 1936, when a nest and four eggs were found by John Mayer at Idlewild, near Jamaica Bay. When Henshaw first differentiated this lark in 1884 he gave its habitat as the Upper Mississippi Valley and the region of the Great Lakes. He says in an early issue of The Auk: "In connection with this race it is interesting to note that it appears to be gradually extending its range and to be encroaching on territory which by reason of recent deforestation has been made to approach the conditions this prairie loving species seeks." Mrs. Gertrude Selby, of Baldwin, in a paper on this species published by the Bird Club of Long Island records it breeding along the Meadowbrook Causeway since 1937. The number of species of birds found on Long Island has thus increased until it now totals better than one hundred more than Giraud recorded in 1843.
BIRD LIFE OF THE PRESENT
In all the territory of North America lying north of the Rio Grande there have been recorded about 800 distinct species of wild birds and about 400 additional sub-species or climatic varieties. New York State has recorded 412 of these 1200 species and sub-species, holding fourth place in the Union with the large states of Texas, California and Nebraska topping the list. Of New York's 412 species, 388 have been recorded on Long Island. Of this number 138 are known to nest on Long Island.
Thirty-seven of these nesting species are present on Long Island throughout the year. These permanent residents are :
Mute Swan
Flicker
Mallard
Downy Woodpecker
Connon Black Duck
Hairy Woodpecker
Bald Eagle
Prairie Horned Lark
Cooper's Hawk
Blue Jay
Marsh Hawk
Common Crow
Red-tailed Hawk
Fish Crow
Sparrow Hawk
Black-capped Chickadee
Ruffed Grouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Bob-white
Carolina Wren
Ring-necked Pheasant
Starling
Herring Gull
Eastern Meadowlark
Mourning Dove
Cardinal
Barn Owl
Purple Finch
Horned Owl
Eastern Goldfinch
Long-eared Owl Screech Owl
European Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Short-eared Owl
Song Sparrow
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LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
The Bald Eagle bred on Gardiner's Island until 1930, and it is thought that at least one pair is still breeding in eastern Suffolk County.
Summer visitants, that is, those birds that are absent from Long Island for some period during the winter, are listed below in order of their arrival. Since the majority of these birds nest on Long Island, attention will be called to those for which there is no nesting record in this region.
Arriving from February 20 to March 10:
Killdeer
Woodcock
Cedar Waxwing Red-winged Blackbird
Robin
Purple Grackle
Bluebird
An occasional Robin or Bluebird will stay in this region through- out the winter.
Arriving from March 11 to 31 :
Black-crowned Night Heron Tree Swallow
Wood Duck
Hermit Thrush
Red-shouldered Hawk
Pine Warbler
Osprey
Cowbird
Piping Plover
Field Sparrow
Belted Kingfisher
Vesper Sparrow
Phoebe
In 1935 there was estimated to be a population of over 3000 pairs of Black-crowned Night Herons in twenty known heronries on Long Island. A few of these heronries have been reduced or destroyed, but three new ones have been discovered, and the known breeding population remains about the same.
Arriving from April 1 to 20:
Pied-billed Grebe
Barn Swallow
Green Heron
Rough-winged Swallow
Little Blue Heron
Purple Martin
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Brown Thrasher
American Bittern
Black and White Warbler
Clapper Rail
Louisiana Water-Thrush
King Rail
Red-eyed Towhee
Virginia Rail
Chipping Sparrow
Florida Gallinule
Henslow's Sparrow
Upland Plover
Savannah Sparrow
Spotted Sandpiper
Swamp Sparrow
Whip-poor-will
The Little Blue Heron is not known to nest on Long Island. Twenty years ago it was considered a rare visitant. Today it is a fairly common summer visitant both on our coastal marshes and the fresh water marshes inland.
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LONG ISLAND BIRD LIFE
Arriving after April 20, mostly in May :
Cory's Shearwater
Catbird
Greater Shearwater
Wood Thrush
Sooty Shearwater
Veery
Wilson's Petrel
White-eyed Vireo
American Egret
Yellow-throated Vireo
Snowy Egret
Red-eyed Vireo
Least Bittern
Warbling Vireo
Broad-winged Hawk
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black Rail
Blue-winged Warbler
Laughing Gull
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Common Tern
Lawrence's Warbler
Least Tern
Prairie Warbler
Roseate Tern
Worm-eating Warbler
Black Skimmer
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Ovenbird
Black-billed Cuckoo
Maryland Yellow-throat
Nighthawk
Yellow-breasted Chat
Chimney Swift
Redstart
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Kingbird
Orchard Oriole
Crested Flycatcher
Baltimore Oriole
Acadian Flycatcher
Scarlet Tanager
Least Flycatcher
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Wood Pewee
Indigo Bunting
Bank Swallow
Grasshopper Sparrow
House Wren
Seaside Sparrow
Long-billed Marsh Wren
Sharp-tailed Sparrow
Short-billed Marsh Wren
The Shearwaters, Petrel and Laughing Gulls do not nest on Long Island. Nor do the Egrets, although these birds, now protected by law, are steadily increasing in numbers. It is felt that the Snowy Egret, which at one time did nest in this region, may again establish itself as a breeding bird on Long Island.
Late Fall and Winter visitants, for the most part absent in the Summer, are listed below in order of their arrival. Since only a few of these birds nest on Long Island, the ones that breed in this region will be noted.
Arriving in August : Common Loon Baldpate Gadwall Pintail
Green-winged Teal Ring-billed Gull Red-breasted Nuthatch
There is one breeding record of the Red-breasted Nuthatch. It was reported by Roy Latham, of Orient, L. I., on June 15, 1921.
Bobolink
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LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
Arriving in September :
Red-throated Loon
European Widgeon
Horned Grebe
Duck Hawk
European Cormorant
Coot
Canvas back
Great Black-backed Gull
Greater Scaup Duck
Brown Creeper
Redhead
Winter Wren
Shoveller
Golden-crowned Kinglet
American Scoter
Myrtle Warbler
Surf Scoter
Slate-colored Junco
White-winged Scoter
White-throated Sparrow
Red-breasted Merganser
Ludlow Griscom states in his Modern Bird Study, published by the Harvard University Press in 1945, that the Great Black-backed Gull is becoming a more common winter visitant and that it has been known to raise young on Long Island.
Arriving in October :
Holboell's Grebe
European Teal
Whistling Swan
Gyrfalcon
Brant
Goshawk
Blue Goose
Rough-legged Hawk
Canada Goose
Bonaparte's Gull
Greater Snow Goose
Saw-whet Owl
Buffle-head Northern Horned Lark
Lesser Scaup Duck
Pine Siskin
Old-squaw
Red Crossbill
Ring-necked Duck
Ipswich Sparrow
Red-legged Black Duck
Tree Sparrow
Ruddy Duck Lapland Longspur
Hooded Merganser
Snow Bunting
Although the Whistling Swan was apparently a regular transient visitant in colonial times, in 1923 Griscom listed only four definite records for Long Island. Although now on the increase, this species is still uncommon in this region, the normal flight line passing just west of Long Island. Tame Canada Geese escaping from sanctuaries and parks from time to time are found breeding in the wild with increasing success, as are Mute Swans and Mallards. The Saw-whet Owl, smallest of our eastern Owls, nests on Long Island.
Arriving in November or later:
American Eider Duck
Razor-billed Awk
American Golden-eye Atlantic Murre
Brunnich's Murre
Harlequin Duck King Eider American Merganser
Dovekie
Black Guillemot
Purple Sandpiper Snowy Owl Glaucous Gull Northern Shrike
Iceland Gull
Evening Grosbeak
Kittiwake Kumlien's Gull
Redpoll
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LONG ISLAND BIRD LIFE
Migrating birds normally present on Long Island twice a year in their flights northward and southward are as follows:
Water Birds :
Leach's Petrel Gannet
Buff-breasted Sandpiper Red-backed Sandpiper
Double-crested Cormorant
Eastern Willet
Great Blue Heron
Western Willet
Blue-winged Teal
Greater Yellow-legs
Sora
Lesser Yellow-legs
Yellow Rail
Knot
Semipalmated Plover
Eastern Dowitcher
Black-bellied Plover
Long-billed Dowitcher
Golden Plover
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Hudsonian Godwit
Wilson's Snipe
Sanderling
Hudsonian Curlew
Northern Phalarope
Least Sandpiper
Red Phalarope
Pectoral Sandpiper
Wilson's Phalarope
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Pomarine Jaeger
Solitary Sandpiper
Parasitic Jaeger
Western Sandpiper
Black Tern
Stilt Sandpiper
Caspian Tern
White-rumped Sandpiper Baird's Sandpiper
Forster's Tern
Land Birds :
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Brewster's Warbler
C'anada Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Connecticut Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Mourning Warbler
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Orange-crowned Warbler
Olive-backed Thrush
Parula Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Western Palm Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Northern Water-Thrush
Blue-headed Vireo
Fox Sparrow Acadian Sharp-tailed Sparrow
Philadelphia Vireo
Yellow Palm Warbler
Lincoln's Sparrow
Bay-breasted Warbler
White-crowned Sparrow
Blackburnian Warbler
Rusty Blackbird
Black-poll Warbler
Bronzed Grackle
L. I .- II-12
Pigeon Hawk
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-headed Woodpecker Alder Flycatcher Olive-sided Flycatcher
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Cliff Swallow Mockingbird Bicknell's Thrush
Nashville Warbler
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Ruby-crowned Kinglet Pipit Migrant Shrike
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LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
The following species have been recorded on Long Island, but they are of more or less fortuitous occurrence and are considered as casual or accidental visitants :
Pacific Loon
Ivory Gull Little Gull
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Sabine's Gull
Audubon's Shearwater
Arctic Tern
Manx Shearwater
Gull-billed Tern
Mediterranean Shearwater
Royal Tern
Fulmar
Sooty Tern
Black-capped Petrel
Puffin
Yellow-billed Tropic-bird
Barred Owl
Brown Pelican
Great Gray Owl
White Pelican
Hawk Owl
White-bellied Booby
Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker
Man-o-War Bird
American Three-toed Woodpecker
Louisiana Heron.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Glossy Ibis
Arkansas Kingbird
White Ibis
Gray Kingbird
Wood Ibis
Say's Phoebe
Black Brant
Northern Raven
Barnacle Goose
Acadian Chickadee
Hutchin's Goose
Tufted Titmouse
Lesser Snow Goose
Varied Thrush
White-fronted Goose
Greenland Wheatear
Barrow's Golden-eye
Townsend's Solitaire
Rufous-crested Duck
Bohemian Waxwing
Black Vulture
Cerulean Warbler
Turkey Vulture
Kentucky Warbler
Swallow-tailed Kite
Prothonotary Warbler
Golden Eagle
Yellow-throated Warbler
Dusky Pheasant
Grinnell's Water-thrush
Corn Crake
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Purple Gallinule
Summer Tanager
Oyster-catcher
Blue Grosbeak
Lapwing
Pine Grosbeak
Wilson's Plover
Greater Redpoll
Eskimo Curlew
Holboell's Redpoll
European Curlew
Lark Bunting
Long-billed Curlew
Dickcissel
European Dunlin
Newfoundland Crossbill
Ruff
White-winged Crossbill
Whimbrel
Baird's Sparrow
Curlew Sandpiper Avocet
Labrador Savannah Sparrow
Black-necked Stilt
Lark Sparrow
Long-tailed Jaeger
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow
Northern Skua
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Black-headed Gull
Clay-colored Sparrow
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LONG ISLAND BIRD LIFE
An interesting phase of Long Island bird life has been the intro- duction of species foreign to these shores. These birds, however, have not always been successful in adapting themselves to the condi- tions existing in this locality.
Such is the case of the European Skylark. It seemed at first as though this lovely songster would be able to establish itself as a permanent resident. William Dutcher, in the Auk Magazine for April, 1888, tells of having received a request late in June, 1887, to investi- gate a statement made in a New York paper that "skylarks are abundant on Long Island at Flatbush and from that place down easterly through a stretch of land extending to Flatlands and thence round and about the town of Flatlands". Mr. Dutcher referred the request to a Mr. Alfred Marshall who resided at Flatlands and was well acquainted with the region. Within two days Mr. Dutcher received two birds which were positively identified as true European Skylarks. Mr. Marshall saw many of them in the long grass fields and on July 14th found a nest with young. They remained until Sep- tember when he saw the last one. But the European Skylark was evidently unable to adapt itself to the development of that section. It has not been observed on Long Island since 1913.
More successful are our present-day Pheasants, descendants of several introduced species in which the Asiatic races with the white ring on the neck predominate. The birds have bred very successfully in the wild state.
The colorful little European Goldfinch, introduced more recently, is doing well. Brought into New Jersey in 1878, this beautiful bird first appeared on Long Island at Massapequa around 1910 and since that date has persisted. Seven communities of Nassau County have recorded nests of this species.
All too successful are the Starling and the English Sparrow. It is somewhat difficult now to realize that these ubiquitous birds had some little difficulty in establishing themselves at first.
There were several unsuccessful attempts to introduce the Star- ling before 1890-1891 when one hundred birds liberated in Central Park by a wealthy New York bird fancier, Mr. Eugene Shieffelin, survived. After that date the increase was rapid.
As for the English or House Sparrow, eight pairs of these Euro- pean Weaver Finches were liberated in Brooklyn in 1850, but did not thrive. In 1852 a larger number were brought over and kept in con- finement throughout the winter. Those that survived were liberated in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn. These birds, thriving, multiplied and spread. With the displacement of the horse by the automobile there has been a definite decrease in this sparrow, but it is still very common.
The introduction of the Starling and the English Sparrow has had an unanticipated disastrous effect upon our native bird popula- tion. Our own lovely Bluebird cannot cope successfully with the aggressive Starling in claiming and maintaining possession of a suit- able homesite. This gentle bird has decreased greatly on Long Island, having almost disappeared from Queens and Nassau Counties.
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LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
The Purple Martin has also been on the decline since these birds have come to Long Island. There are now known to be about fourteen colonies in Suffolk County and one at Seaford in Nassau County. Every effort should be made to encourage this swallow and to guard against its extirpation on Long Island.
The decline of, the Cliff Swallow is attributed to its inability to withstand the attacks of the English Sparrow both on itself and on its nest. The Cliff Swallow has not been known to nest on Long Island since 1904.
In contrast to the success of the aggressive birds from across the ocean, some of our native American birds, such as the Carolina Wren, have a difficult struggle on Long Island. Periodic severe winters play havoc with their numbers. After a period of great abundance in 1911, the record-breaking winter of 1917-18 almost exterminated this southern Wren from the region. Returning gradually, the species was reduced again in 1933-34 and is once more endeavoring to re- establish itself.
Fluctuation in our bird population is sometimes caused by a failure of food supply as in the case of the American Brant, which was a regular winter resident on the coast of Long Island until 1931 when the eelgrass, its principal food in this region, was struck by a blight and virtually disappeared. This small goose immediately became increasingly rare for the next ten years. Some beds of eel- grass are showing signs of recuperation and the Brant is increasing slowly. Flocks of from three to five thousand Brant were observed feeding on the eelgrass in the waters off Merrick during the latter part of the winter of 1945-46.
Sometimes the disappearance of a favorite nesting material has driven a bird away as happened in the case of the Parula Warbler. This lovely little bird was at one time a common local summer resi- dent over the eastern half of Long Island. It left this area upon the disappearance of the Usnea lichen in the long gray strands of which it liked to build its nest. The last breeding record on Long Island was in 1938.
There are cases too where a failure of food supply elsewhere brings birds to our shore. So it is with the Snowy Owl, usually an irregular visitant from the Arctic. There are years occurring at intervals when, the food supply in the far north running low, these birds invade our shores in numbers. Such an invasion occurred in the winter of 1945-46, when as many as seven Snowy Owls were seen on the sand dunes of Jones Beach in one day.
In considering the changes in our bird population we note that there are some birds which are erratic in their movements with no obvious causes. The Red Crossbill is one of these. There have been winters when Red Crossbills have been on Long Island in considerable numbers. The last such invasion was in 1899-1900. Since then they have been very rare.
The disappearance of the Dickcissel westward by the end of the nineteenth century has never been explained. It had formerly been a summer resident, breeding on Long Island since 1842. There have been
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LONG ISLAND BIRD LIFE
an increasing number of records in the east in the last few years and it is possible that the Dickcissel might return to this region as unaccountably as it left.
The beautiful Evening Grosbeak has extended its winter range eastward. Before the phenomenal invasion of 1890 this Northwestern Finch was virtually unknown in the East. Usually rare on Long Island, it was observed in large numbers during the winter of 1945-46. As many as eighty at one time were seen at the Baldwin Bird Club's feeding station.
On November 13, 1933, there was a remarkable flight of Greater Snow Geese with flocks up to 700 reported at widely separated points on Long Island. Since then this species has been reported regularly but in smaller flocks.
The numbers of some birds visiting Long Island fluctuate at regular intervals. The Saw-whet Owl is one of these. Although the Saw-whet does nest on Long Island, it is in general an irregular winter visitant. Three out of five years there are light flights and once in five, marked invasions.
Man is responsible for the most drastic changes in the bird life of Long Island. His thoughtless slaughter in those early days of abundance wrought havoe which has never been wholly repaired. The Labrador Duck, Heath Hen and Passenger Pigeon are now extinct as the Carolina Paroquet probably is also. The Wild Turkey, Whoop- ing Crane, Eskimo Curlew and Black-necked Stilt have not occurred in our region for many years. By the latter part of the nineteenth century many of our shore birds, waterfowl and game birds were in danger of extirpation from overshooting.
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