THB OOLOOI8T. 



185 



THE QUAIL TRAP. 

 From Connecticut. 



The Quail Trap, Oct. 23, 1907— No, 

 we were not awheel during 'the spring 

 migration, or in the early siummer, 

 nor is the tonaieau of a motor car at 

 any season an icleal place to observe 

 the movements of birds. And night 

 flyers rarely flew into the forward 

 glare of our acetylene. 'Moving lights 

 so slose to ibushless unturfed road- 

 way do not appear to attract jour- 

 neying birds like the tall mariner's 

 lanterns along the coast in direct 

 lines of migration. But as the cars 

 run more at night and go further 

 afield, now and then a deer may ibe 

 fascinated or charmed by the head- 

 lights. But this novel firelighting is 

 not likely to become a fad at present. 

 Several times we have seen rabbits 

 and skunks run under the car on 

 moonlight nig'hts. 



In running at half speed from York 

 Beach, Maine, along moist of the 

 beaches in New Hampshire, Massa- 

 chusetts, Rhode Island and Connecti- 

 cut and all along the south shore of 

 Long Is'land, we saw about the usual 

 number of small beach-ibirds, gulls, 

 surf ducks and common waders. 

 Black-crowned nights and great blues 

 were commonly noted, but no white 

 herons'. But this season six snowies 

 stayed over night in the brackish 

 pools on Groton Long Point in our 

 own county. Two eagles were seen 

 fishing for flotsam and jetsam at 

 Hampton Beach. Earlier in the sea- 

 son, motoring to the war oflJce, we 

 narrowly missed surprising a fine 

 whitebeak in the Boothbay 'barn lot 

 — ^once the Dr. Sweet place: — ^on Le- 

 banon Green. Eagles of both species 

 are so rare on Connecticut farms 

 that they figure largely in the village 

 chronicles. Their visits are too of- 

 ten welcomed with a charge of squir- 

 rel sihot. 



No sparrowhawks were seen during 

 the last week's run and goshawks 

 have not yet come down. But both 

 goshawks and snowy owls will ibe 

 seen by the sharp-eyed motorists 

 along shore next month. Passing 

 through Narragansett Pier twice, we 

 were lucky enough to see part of the 

 stray fiight of hawks, all hig*hfliers 

 and not easily determined. The 

 three buteos and one accipiter were 

 among the few we saw on trees by 

 the roadside. The southbound^ worr- 

 iers did not seem to be partial to the 

 asphalt and macadam, and we de- 

 termined but six species from the 

 machine. 



We saw the famous Ipswich spar- 

 row near Swampscott — or felt sure 

 we did. In a fisherman's doorway 

 was a large maple stump with twen- 

 ty big and little holes drilled in it. 

 Two of the flickers' boles could t)e 

 reached from the ground, and in 

 some of the upper holes I presume 

 resident downies wer in winter quar- 

 ters. I would have given a tidy sum 

 if I could transport that stump in sec- 

 tions' tb a place of honor in my cab- 

 inet. In East Woodstock I had per- 

 mission to remove just suc'h an apart- 

 ment house of the carpenters (as tie 

 Cubans call them), but a high wind 

 blew down and splintered my prize. 

 Nowhere on the south sihore of Long 

 Island did we see one of the great 

 assemblies of swallows' siuch as I have 

 repeatedly seen on the north side be- 

 yond Orient. While tlie Road Run- 

 ner was rapidly skimming through 

 Larchmont and New Rochelle, we 

 saw two ibirds near at 'hand and 

 a bunch a little way from the car 

 which by the law of exclusion must 

 have been startlings. These intro- 

 duced birds are increasings along the 

 Bay shore, not uncommon in New 

 Haven, and have now appeared in 

 Mystic and New London in our own 



