That the world’s lone heath hen, Martha’s Vineyard’s most famous resident, was still alive September 13, is vouched for by Dr. John A. Phillips, president of the Massachusetts Fish and Game Association, who, in a letter sent out to members of the organization last week, told of almost running over a heath hen as he drove Mrs. Phillips along the Dr. Fisher road in West Tisbury, near the fire tower.
This is the first time that the lone bird has been reported since last May, and revives interest in the last member of the vanishing species. It is customary for heath hen to withdraw into the woods during the summer months, so that the bird’s absence from its accustomed haunts on the James Green farm this summer, has not been considered strange. His appearance on September 14 furnishes proof positive that he was not a victim of the forest fire that raged dangerously near to his home territory Sept. 12 and 13.
