THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 1 9 



trodden upon, and then tumble along over the ground, as if injured, to 

 divert your attention from their treasures, which stand very nearly on 

 their pointed ends in the deep cup prepared for them. The birds are tame 

 and certainly deserve the pleasing accounts that have been written of them 

 by Audubon, Nuttall, Dr. Coues, and others. 



Of the two species of Ducks that are summer residents on the island, the 

 Red-breasted Merganser is the more abundant, although both are much 

 diminished in numbers compared with what they used to be, and the foxes 

 are now making sad havoc with the handful that remains. Dr. Gilpin 

 mentions " Black Duck {Anas obscnro) and the Shell Drake (Merganser)." 

 Where a Duck can be seen sitting on her nest in an exposed situation, as is 

 often the case, the foxes do not have to search for them, and it is only some 

 of the nests hidden away in the brier-patches that can possibly escape. 



The rarest of the summer residents is the Spotted Sandpiper, for I 

 knew of but two pairs on the island. 



I have now enumerated, with the exception of the Ipswich Sparrow, all 

 the birds that breed, but there are many other visitors. I used to see almost 

 daily a flock of Kittiwake Gulls {Rissa tridactyla), but dissection of speci- 

 mens showed that there were no signs whatever of breeding. Occasionally 

 single birds or even flocks of the Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls 

 {Larus argentatus smithsoniaims and L. mariniis') were seen, and on foggy 

 nights Petrels {Occanodroma Icticorhoa) used to come about the lighthouses 

 in numbers, following their nocturnal proclivities, and wandering doubtless 

 from their burrows on the Nova Scotia coast. A few dusky Jaegers 

 (' Gull Chasers' or ' Bos'ns,'as they are called) were sometimes seen far out 

 over the bars. The only specimen I obtained was a bleached and 

 mummified carcass of Sfercorartns parasiticus that had washed up on 

 the beach. During the early days of my stay a few belated migrants, 

 chiefly Warblers, played at hide and seek about the barns and woodpiles, 

 wondering perhaps how tliey had got into a country so devoid of sheltering 

 trees and bushes. Soon they all disappeared, and it was later when 

 waifs from the mainland (such for instance as Junco hyemalis, Empidonax 

 jlaviventris, Chcetura -pelagica, and others) made their appearance, 

 possibly losing their way in the fog or drifted along by the wind. After 

 loitering for a few days they, too, would disappear, to be replaced later 

 by other waifs. I was informed that in the spring few Shore-birds or 

 Ducks visit the island, and that in the autumn they are not as abundant 

 as the situation of the island would seem to promise. 



If now I have been successful in placing before my readers a rough picture 

 of the island home of the Ipswich Sparrow, they will better appreciate the 

 historical sketch and life-history of the bird which I am about to present, 

 prefacing the same with the necessary synonymy and descriptions. 



