ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AXD — 



OOLOGIST. 



PUBLISHED BY THE FRANK BLAKE WEBSTER COMPANY. 



ESTABLISHED MARCH, 1875. 



$1.00 per 

 Annum. 



Single Copy 

 10 cents. 



Vol. XVII. HYDE PARK, MASS., OCTOBER, 1892. 



No. 10. 



Sunset with the Night Hawks. 



It was at night I saw them, after a 

 long day of pickerel fishing, and I was re- 

 turning with a heavy bag of forty bright 

 yellow bellies. When I started in the 

 morning it was cloudy and occasionally 

 raining, wind just right ; but later it 

 cleared and the wind "hauled" to the north. 



The sun was just going down, appar- 

 ently into the ocean, as I stopped on top 

 of a low hill to admire the beauty of it, 

 and rest my weary self. 



I stood there some time and was just 

 starting when something almost brushed 

 the back of my neck. Turning as quick- 

 ly as possible I caught one glimpse of 

 a bird as it flew behind a bush, but 

 not enough to see what it was. Drop- 

 ping fish pole, I ran around behind the 

 bush, only to be disappointed, as the bird 

 had gone completely. 



Before me, stretching away in a gradual 

 slope a hundred yards or more, was a field 

 of huckleberry bushes, with here and 

 there a scrub pine. At a distance of 

 two hundred yards was another knoll. 



I stood where I could view the whole 

 of the little valley. Seating myself I 

 waited about one minute, and had the 

 satisfaction of having two birds fly past' 

 me so close I could feel the wind from 

 their almost noiseless wings. 



For one-half hour I sat there, scarcely 

 moving as they flew around back and 

 forth never seeming to notice me, only 

 busy getting a supper of flies, which were 



very numerous around the above men- 

 tioned pines. 



They kept up a constant chuckle-like 

 sound — a sort of guttural laugh, so to 

 speak, very much like the note I have 

 often heard the Chuck- Will- Widow make 

 in Florida when in a like occupation. 



I watched them dart back and forth 

 until it became too dark to see them. 

 Then I shouldered my pole and fish and 

 started for home. 



Gunners have been generally disap- 

 pointed, for most of the birds which have 

 migrated were in a great hurry and would 

 not stop long enough to hold even a 

 whistling conversation. 



The best bag I have heard of in one 

 day was six Golden Plover and two Eski- 

 : mo Curlew. 

 I From my note book : 

 , August 26. Saw two Yellow-legs 

 {^Totanus Pie/a?2o/e2iczis) , Turnstones and 

 several varieties of shore birds. 



August 27. Bad rain storm. Large 

 flight of Golden Plover and Eskimo Cur- 

 lew in the night. Very few stopped. 

 Saw only two Plover and one Curlew. 



August 28. Saw gunners' bags with 

 Eskimo Curlew, Golden and Black-bellied 

 Plover, Knot, Yellow-legs, Turnstones, 

 and "Peeps." Fishermen report flocks 

 of several hundred of " Bank Birds" (Pha- 

 larope) , but as none were taken and it blew 

 a gale I did not find out the variety. 



September i . Saw six young and one 

 old Herring Gulls. Frederic L. Small. 

 Provincetown, Mass., Sept. 8. 



Copyright, 1892, by Frank Blake Webster Company. 



