24 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



sionally visits the beach, but I have never found the Bittern there. The 

 Herons prefer a lagoon on the upper part of the beach mostly cut off from 

 the outside sea, but they also frequent the outer beach itself, the Night Herons 

 visiting it at night in large numbers. 



Of the land birds the Hawks are perhaps the most interesting. Some 

 of these appear to choose this region especially during the migrations, Fish 

 Hawks, Duck Hawks, and many of the smaller species being often seen there. 

 I have two Duck Hawks in my collection that took advantage of the skill of 

 the sportsman, and pounced down on some hapless shore birds he had just shot, 

 only to be slain in turn, themselves. Occasionally the Hawks swoop at 

 decoys. The Bald Eagle on rare occasions visits the shore and is an imposing 

 sight as he stands on a peaked dune close to the beach. From here he 

 descends to pick up the dead and decaying fish with which the beach is 

 strewn. 



Of the Passerine birds, the Crows are to be found on the beach, often in 

 large numbers, at all seasons, sharing with the Herring Gulls the duties of 

 scavengers. They are more common there in winter than in summer, for their 

 range of hunting-ground is more curtailed at that season and the beach is 

 always bountiful in supplying food. 



The number of Passerine birds that accidentally alight on the beach may 

 be considerable, but there are only a few that habitually frequent it. These 

 are in summer the Kingbird, Bronzed Crackle, Red-winged Blackbird, Savanna 

 Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Barn, Eave, Bank, and Tree Swallows, and Robin. 

 All of these visit the beach frequently for the abundance of insects to be found 

 ju.st above high-water mark or those attracted by the decomposing fish and sea- 

 weed, or for the small crustaceans. All four species of Swallows are abundant, 

 coursing up and down the beaches and occasionally alighting there, not only 

 during the migrating season when they gather in large numbers, but also in the 

 early summer. The Tree and Barn Swallows are the most abundant and next 

 to them is the Eave Swallow. In the autumn come the large flocks of migrat- 

 ing Pipits, which frequently walk on the upper beach. 



The winter birds are the Horned Larks and Snow Buntings, which are 

 often found in large flocks dose to the water's edge and add greatly to the 

 pleasure of a walk there at that season. The Lapland Longspurs are also to 

 be found, and the Ipswich Sparrow delights in the beach itself, appearing to 

 pick up plenty of food not only on the upper beach, but also on the debris cast 

 up by the waves close to the water's edge. On January 24th, 1904, on Ipswich 

 Beach, in the small compass of some ten yards square, I found ten Horned 

 Larks, four Snow Buntings, two Lapland Longspurs, and one Ipswich Sparrow 

 feeding — an interesting collection for a winter's day. 



