MASS. (Middlesex Co.) 1876. Sunday Dec. 31 The year (1876) closes to day with solid white weather. Since Dec. 9th the ground has been covered with snow, no warm spells having occurred. At date of writing we have about in this vicinity, about 25 inches, and the skirting is good. The past month has been characterized by a great scarcity of birds, both as to individuals and species. No winter irregular winter visitors at all and regular species scantily represented. In late Nov. and the first part of this month Goodale had four Nyctalus Nyctalus albaea sent in from the vicinity of Boston; he always has more of this species than any other taxidermist of any acquaintance... Ivurdus migratorius regularly but in very small numbers on and about the Bodge farm in Water- town through the past two months. He also saw distinctly. Accipiter fuscescens in the same locality on Dec. 29; a bird of the same species (and probably the same individual) was seen at nearly the same place by Mr. W. Fatter, Dec. 30. Mr. Fraser also informs me that he has counted up in all nine specimens of Melanops erythrocephalus shot in Watertown and Newton the past autumn (see p. 397) At Goodale's is a specimen of Plectrophanes lapponicus shot at Chelsea beach, Jan. Dec. 29th 1876. Plectrophanes nivalis is very scarce this year and I have seen only a very few, most of them flying high in air,