BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 49 



CHAPTER VIL 



THE PONDS AND THEIR BIRDS. 



"Seekest thou the plashy brink 

 Of weedy lake .' " 



Bryant, " To a Waierfovjl.''^ 



In the early days, the waterfowl that flew in countless multitudes along the 

 coast line, tarried to rest and feed in the numerous ponds that dot the surface 

 of the County. Incessant persecution has sadly thinned their ranks, and the 

 sur\dvors are very loath to trust themselves to these inviting havens, having 

 learned wisdom from bitter experience. When, however, they see flocks of 

 their companions feeding unharmed, as is the case on such ponds as those in 

 the grand reservation of the Lynn Woods, where no guns intrude, they soon 

 learn to tarry there, and reproduce in a small, but let us hope an increasing 

 way, the scenes enacted in the early days. Would that more of these safety 

 spots could be created, for there is nothing more interesting and beautiful than 

 waterfowl disporting themselves in safety. The owners of land bordering ponds 

 could, by posting signs, exclude gunners from the waters. Waterfowl would 

 soon learn to congregate there during the migrations, and add greatly to the 

 attractiveness of the ponds. Such safety spots scattered all along our coast, or 

 indeed throughout the country, would be of inestimable value to bird-lovers and 

 would help greatly in preserving an interesting and diminishing class of birds. 



As an example of the way in which the waterfowl make use of these 

 havens may be recorded the fact that on November ist, 1904, on Spot Pond, in 

 the Middlesex Fells close to Essex County, I found 230 Black Ducks, 5 Mal- 

 lards, 10 Scaup, both Greater and Lesser, i Bufflehead, i American Widgeon, 

 2 Ruddy Ducks, 6 American Coot, and 8 Herring Gulls. A few weeks later, 

 on November 27th, I estimated the wildfowl inhabitants of this pond as follows : 

 400 Herring Gulls, 500 Black Ducks, both the Red-legged and the Common 

 subspecies, 1 5 Mallards, 5 American Widgeons, 2 Ruddy Ducks, i Lesser 

 Scaup, 6 American Mergansers, and 6 American Coot — a most interesting 

 assemblage. 



There are other ponds where the migrating Ducks and Geese see their fel- 

 lows, sometimes in large numbers, feeding in apparent security and enticingly 



