LAND BIEDS OF THE DUNES 



land birds, so that the concentration in the 

 thickets of the dunes is sometimes extreme. 

 Another fact which is of advantage to the bird 

 student is that the trees in the dunes are so 

 low that one can often look down on the tallest 

 of them from the peak of a dune. Besides the 

 great number of migrants, which include prac- 

 tically all the birds that stream along the coast 

 in the spring and fall, and find rest, shelter and 

 food in the dunes, there are a number of in- 

 teresting birds that spend part or all of the 

 winter there, some of which are rarely found 

 elsewhere than in sand dunes. 



The birds that nest in the dunes, and rear 

 their young there, are comparatively few in 

 number and are quickly enumerated. The 

 robin builds in the trees or about the few 

 houses and shanties; the yellow warbler and 

 Maryland yellow-throat are common, and the 

 song sparrow is ever3rwhere in the bushes. 

 Still more common is the Savannah sparrow 

 nesting at the foot of clumps of tall beach 

 grass throughout the dunes and on the edges 

 of the tidal inlets from the marsh. Its song, 

 such as it is, is heard on every hand during 

 the spring and summer,^— two chirps, followed 

 by two trills, the first exceedingly high 



87 



