BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 27 



great pressure of wind and tide. Such a scene and such a season would not at 

 first thought appear to promise much of ornithological interest. The very con- 

 trary was indeed the fact. While it was still quite dark the birds of the short 

 Arctic days, the Snow Buntings and the Horned Larks, could be heard flying 

 over to feed on the upper beach or in the fields or dunes on such grass-stalks as 

 projected above the snow. On this winter's day the sun rose at 7.20 and these 

 birds were stirring at 6.30 A. m. The Horned Lark and the Snow Bunting are 

 easily distinguished in the daytime by their plumage, but the light was so poor 

 at this hour that the birds could be told apart only by their call notes. 



Over the rough ice and water gaps which lead up the Ipswich River, 

 Ducks soon began to fly, heading straight into the wind. Bunches of a 

 dozen to a hundred passed in rapid succession. With the dawn it was possible 

 to see that Red-breasted Mergansers formed the larger part of these, hundreds 

 of them going to feed in open places in Plum Island River and tributary creeks. 

 Flocks of Whistlers were also common, and Surf Scoters ; White-winged and a 

 few American Scoters were also distinguished, although these for the most part 

 flew back and forth outside. Herring Gulls in countless numbers flew about 

 this icy waterway, occasionally alighting in a pool of open water or sitting 

 quietly on the ice. Most of them followed the procession of Ducks to the 

 inner waterways. On the wing in the fierce wind these Gulls, so sluggish on a 

 calm summer's day, were flying about as swiftly and gracefully as Terns. 

 Every now and then Kittiwakes could be seen, to be distinguished from the 

 Herring Gulls by their still greater agility, and when actually side by side, by 

 their smaller size. Great Black-backed Gulls, birds of exceeding grace in a 

 strong wind, delighted the eye. At five minutes of seven, a group of low- 

 flying black forms could be seen, coming swiftly from the region of the pines 

 among the sand dunes. They were the forerunners of the army of Crows that 

 had been spending the night there. Silently they came, singly and in groups 

 of ten or twenty forming two distinct streams : one towards the marshes, the 

 other along the beach and the waters of the Ipswich River, to feed on the way 

 and some of them to reach the great Plum Island and Rowley Marshes above. 

 A third stream, few in numbers, quartered the sand dunes and sought the thickets 

 on the side of Castle Hill. All flew close to the ground to avoid the wind, and 

 also to search for food. On this account their course was not so direct, not " as 

 the Crow flies," as is the case on their return to roost after the day's hunting. 

 One of them pounced at a Herring Gull that was devouring a fish on the ice, 

 but the Gull turned on him fiercely and the Crow beat a hasty retreat. From 

 6.55 to 7.30 there was an almost constant stream of Crows, — perhaps five or 

 six hundred of them, — coming from the sand dunes. As many more may have 

 gone in the other direction. 



