26 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



Twenty-five years ago I found the shore birds as wild and difficult to approach 

 at Coffin's Beach as they are now, while on smaller beaches where they were 

 less molested, as at Magnolia, they were comparatively tame, and this is the case 

 at the present time at the protected Lynn Beach. It is to be hoped that the 

 season for shore bird shooting may be deferred till August 15th or, better still, 

 to September ist. This would save many birds, especially the adults, which 

 are most needed to continue the race. This seems to me more practicable 

 than to try to put the smaller birds on the protected list. Many a Peep 

 appears to the excited gunner as large as a Turnstone, and if shooting is 

 allowed at all, small birds will be shot in the absence of large ones. The 

 methods detailed above can be used by the field-glass hunter as well as by the 

 gunner, and even to an old sportsman the field-glass method once tried has 

 attractions which in many respects outweigh those of the gun. The birds 

 appear to recognize the friendliness of the bird-lover, and often display at 

 close range many interesting traits that are lost to the man who shoots on 

 sight. 



In easterly storms during the autumn flight, the gunner conceals himself 

 in blinds on projecting sand bars, or lies quietly, clad in oilskins that match the 

 sand, and shoots at the Scoters, Shelldrakes, and Black Ducks that at these 

 times often fly low over the beach. Birds that are merely winged drop on the 

 sand and are easily caught, while on the water the chances for their escape are 

 always good. Wounded Ducks and also Gulls on the beach strive to reach the 

 water, while wounded shore birds in the water swim for land. In winter the ice 

 piled up by the waves on the beaches is used as a blind. 



Both in midwinter and in midsummer the beach is a constant source of 

 interest to the ornithologist. On January 4th, 1904, I was on Ipswich Beach at 

 daybreak while it was still too dark to distinguish colors. The cold which was 

 severe, 7° below zero, was much intensified by a strong northwest wind. The 

 mouth of the Ipswich River inside the bar was filled with broken and crushing 

 ice blocks. This pack ice extended along the beach for over a mile and the 

 upper edge of the beach itself was piled with ice blocks smoothed over with 

 frozen spray. Outside the ice the sea was boisterous and appeared to be 

 boiling. The steam from the water, which was warm in comparison with the 

 air, rising in great clouds and driven by the wind, formed almost a fog bank. 

 On the landward side the peaks of the sand dunes, harried by the northwest 

 wind, streamed mingled snow and sand. From the hills and fields inland the 

 gale blew a continuous cloud of fine snow, stripping the ground bare in places 

 and piling up huge drifts in the lee of trees and walls. Farther inland the 

 marshes were beautiful with great blocks of ice thrown about in wild confusion, 

 and threaded by numerous creeks all filled with ice, crushed and rumpled by the 



