INTRODUCTION 



great, and the wings are closed just before the 

 bird enters the water, which spurts up to a 

 height of five feet or more. After the waters 

 have subsided, following the splash, and aU is 

 still, the bird suddenly and buoyantly comes 

 to the surface, the head and neck stretched out 

 first. It then sits quietly on the water for half 

 a minute or so, to finish swallowing its prey 

 and to rest, when it slowly and laboriously rises 

 to windward, with its long neck and tail 

 stretched to their full extent. Gaining a suifi- 

 cient height, it swings round to leeward, and 

 is soon soaring and plunging again." 



Behind the dunes are the marshes, green in 

 summer, brown in winter, restful always. 

 Beach and dunes and marsh have had their 

 lovers from Homer to Sidney Lanier. Those 

 of us who once trod the sands of Ipswich and 

 watched the tide quietly and irresistibly 

 spread its blue waters through the channels in 

 the marshes, are grateful to Dr. Townsend for 

 preserving for us and for all those to come the 

 interest, the heauty, and the peace of this bit 

 of New England. 



Ralph Hoffmann. 



