BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 



29 



proved correct. At 11. 15 p. M. some Spotted Sandpipers were calling in their 

 anxious way, while the other shore birds were frequently heard. The Night 

 Herons were constantly flying about and squawking, and walking alonf,' the 

 edge of the waves. At 3 a. m. a Song Sparrow sang, and there was a slight 

 suspicion of dawn ; and again he sang at 3.20 when a faint glow was visible 

 in the east, the moon being still bright. Robins began to sing at 3.50 a. m. 

 and at this time six Night Herons could be seen flying north up the beach. 

 Between 3.55 and 4 o'clock, 170 Night Herons passed in the same direction, 

 flying along the edge of the water, a few going over my head as I lay on the 

 upper edge of the beach. They were on their way to their day's rest in the 

 trees on the north side of Castle Hill. Their dark forms and flickering flight 

 in the uncertain light made a weird effect which their hoarse squawking served 

 to heighten. Immediately after they had passed, came the foierunners of a 

 great army of Herring Gulls, appearing as dark as the Herons, but their pointed 

 wings emphasized the differences between them. Before 4.15 I had counted 

 448 flying by me from Coffin's Beach and three or four hundred more before 

 4.30 A. M., while a flock of over a thousand could be seen circling about and 

 alighting on the sands exposed by the low tide off Coffin's Beach. At 4.05 

 a flock of thirty Sanderlings flew by me going south and at 4.15 an Eagle, — 

 an immature Bald Eagle no doubt, — flew close over my head searching for 

 dead fish on the beach. At the same time a large flock of Barn Swallows came 

 from their night roost, and a little later all four species. Tree, Barn, Cliff, and 

 Bank Swallows, were winnowing the air in hundreds, the numbers being in the 

 order named. The first Crow, not an early riser, called at 4.30 A. m., and a 

 minute later the sun rose as red as it had gone downi. 



