Notes from Field and Study 



207 



Yaa! What they believes is, as sciencers 



states, 

 That the good sparrers does, by the 



palmers they ates, 

 Is ten thousand times wuth all their 



damage to grain, 

 Of which to convince me 'tis labor in vain. 



I wun't never, not I, credut no sitch a 



thing, 

 Nor that twoads don't spet pizon, nor 



slow-worms doan't sting. 

 And the moor I be argy'd that sparricide's 



wrong. 

 Shall stick to my Sparrer Club all the 



moor strong. 



— From Punch, December 23, 1871 



Terns at Orient, L. I., After Twenty- 

 five Years' Absence, and Notes on 

 the Piping Plover 



Thirty years ago, Terns bred in abund- 

 ance at Long Beach, Orient, L. I. They 

 added life and beauty to the surrounding 

 waters. Gradually, under the relentless 

 pressure of eggers, they were forced to 

 abandon this site, so perfectly adapted 

 to their needs. 



Aged residents of Orient relate to us 

 how they gathered and carried from this 

 narrow strip of beach a bushel-basket 

 full of Gulls' eggs. The eggs were used as 

 food. They nested not only on the narrow 

 sandy strands, but long flats of mud and 

 grav'el, back in the salt meadows, have 

 been pointed out to me where they nested 

 in hundreds; undoubtedly, too, the little 

 Least Tern and the Laughing Gull were 

 their neighbors, for the Killdeers then 

 nested in the corn-fields of Orient. 



For twenty-five years no Terns nested 

 at Orient. Although they were frequently 

 observed fishing along our shores or rest- 

 ing on the fishing-ponds, they all came 

 from the Islands to the east. 



On June 14, 1914, I found two pairs of 

 Common Terns nesting near the western 

 end of the bar, and six others surf-fishing 

 near. This was a wonderful find to me, 

 as I had practically given up hopes of 



ever seeing them return to their old 

 breeding-grounds at Orient. 



A visit to the Terns' breeding-range at 

 Gardiner's Island, in 1914, showed a 

 pleasing increase over six seasons previous. 



The season's occurrence of young fish 

 was unusual in the Sound, most of these 

 being fingerling mackerel, and never 

 before have I recorded the Terns in such 

 vast numbers. There were days when the 

 straggling flocks covered miles in area. 

 This unusual abundance of Terns, proba- 

 bly due to the numerous fish, occurred 

 between mid-June and August first. 

 Companies of twenty-five to a hundred or 

 more daily passed over the land between 

 the Sound and Bay, a distance of one and 

 a half miles; this is something that has 

 not happened before since these birds 

 deserted the local breeding-strands. 



A steady increase and a permanent 

 breeding-site, re-established, is looked for. 



Two pairs of sad-voiced Piping Plovers 

 still inhabit this beach. Although I 

 have given hours to the search for their 

 nest, only once have I been successful. 

 The notes of these dainty Plovers are 

 actually touching as they strive to lead 

 one from the vicinity of their nest. Flut- 

 tering along close before you, wings out- 

 spread and breast brushing the sands they 

 seem to moan. They also feign disability 

 with skill that is interesting and worthy 

 of note. — Roy Latham, Orient, L. I. 



Egret at Bernardsville, New Jersey 



On August 5 of the past year, I observed 

 two Egrets (Herodias egretta) at Ravine 

 Lake near Bernardsville, New Jersey. 

 From a reliable source, I was informed 

 that they had been seen there for almost a 

 week. They were exceedingly wary, 

 taking to flight on the slightest occasion. 

 Although this is the first time that I have 

 personally seen an Egret at Bernardsville, 

 yet they have been reported to me nearly 

 every season. .Although I have each time 

 hunted up every report, yet this is the 

 first summer in which I have been 

 rewarded for my search. 



The birds were seen under such cir- 



