36 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE SALT MARSHES AND THEIR BIRDS. 



" Agowamme [Ipswich] is nine miles to the North from Salem, which is one of the most spa- 

 tious places for a plantation, being neare the sea, it abonndeth with fish, and flesh of fowles and 

 beasts, great Meads and Marshes and plaine plowing grounds, many good rivers and harbours 

 and no rattle snakes." — Wood, New Englands Prosfect, 1634. 



The extensive areas of salt marshes to be found around the Squam, the 

 Essex, Castle Neck, Ipswich, Parker, Plum Island, and Merrimac Rivers are 

 regions of great interest to the ornithologist as well as to the sportsman. 

 Extending from the rocky, pine-clad hills of the back of Cape Ann on the 

 south, to the Merrimac and the limits of the County on the north, and from 

 the sea on the east back for a varying distance up to five miles, the marshes are 

 intersected by numerous rivers, large and small, and dotted by islands of greater 

 or lesser size. The larger streams, coming from the higher country to the 

 westward, fresh in character before they meet the tidal current, are rightly 

 called rivers, while the numerous smaller streams that wander through the 

 marshes and are nearly dry at low tide, are known as creeks. These salt 

 marshes were evidently great basins or bays extending in from the sea after 

 the glacial period. Bars, beaches, and sand dunes were piled up later, vegeta- 

 tion gradually encroached upon the lessened tidal currents, and there are now 

 great areas of marsh threaded by meandering creeks. Most of the islands are 

 typical glacial drumlins, whose lower outlines are obliterated by the encircling 

 marsh, some showing their tops only above the grass. In some places there are 

 evidences of recent changes in level. The great marshes back of Plum Island 

 River are called the " Hundreds." 



From a botanical point of view the salt marshes can be divided into three 

 distinct regions. First, the region of the coarse salt-grass {Spartina stricta) 

 everywhere in Essex County called "thatch," which flourishes on the edges of 

 creeks only, washed by every tide. It grows to a height of four or five feet 

 and retains the fine detritus at its base, so that one always sinks into soft mud 

 when struggling through it. The thatch is prized for bedding and for mulch, 

 being free from weed seeds, but although it is generally cut, much is carried off 

 by the tides before it is harvested ; or it is broken off in winter, and lines the 



