2 Massachusetts Audubon Society 



A SHORE-BIRD SANCTUARY 

 Dr. John C. Phillips, in the Salem News 



North from the mouth of the Ipswich river, and embracing a large area 

 of high rolling pastures, between that river and Plum Isle sound, is the so- 

 called Ipswich Neck. It has always been a magnificent pasture and, if I 

 remember rightly, Thoreau mentions it as such in his Walden. 



These great pastures were formerly a favorite halting place for the 

 golden plover and the upland plover, and the latter bird, now extremely 

 rare, may yet breed somewhere on these hills. I saw one there last summer 

 and very likely there were one or two others. If the upland plover does still 

 breed in Ipswich, it is one of the last stands in Massachusetts, for this sadly 

 reduced species. Perhaps not over a dozen pairs are left breeding in the 

 state, and those are mostly on Martha's Vineyard Isle. The golden plover 

 do occasionally still haunt these hills on their southern migration. 



But of more general interest is the artificial pond, formerly a small salt 

 marsh which a good many years ago was dyked off from the beach on the 

 Plum Island shore, forming an area of fresh water some 30 acres in extent. 

 In summer the water often gets quite low and there are large spaces of 

 muddy shore exposed, splendid feeding ground for almost every kind of 

 shore bird, while the center of the pond provides a bathing and resting point 

 for enormous numbers of terns and gulls. Last August, before the shooting 

 season opened, I counted 11 different species of waders through my glass at 

 one time at Clark's Pond. 



This place has become quite famous among Essex County ornithologists, 

 and numerous bird-lovers come from considerable distances to spy out a 

 rare species, as for some reason or other Clark's Pond seems to attract rare 

 visitors. For instance, I have several times seen killdeer plover and stilt 

 sandpipers there, blue-bill duck, a great rarity in summer on the Massachu- 

 setts coast. 



Early in September this little pond is visited by a good many blue- 

 winged teal, and a few pintail ducks, and if they are let alone large flocks 

 of black ducks, which feed in the Ipswich and Essex marshes, come in for 

 the fresh water each day. 



Now then, what happens when the shooting season opens on August 15? 

 There are a few semi-tame yellowlegs shot the first day; the ducks, if any 

 are "using" there, are permanently scared away, and that is about the end 

 of it, both for the gunner and the ornithologist. The place is entirely ruined 

 for the naturalist and bird lover because it is not large enough to hold birds, 

 as a big area of marsh and flats will do, and neither does it give any adequate 

 rewards to the practical gunner. But here, nevertheless, is a body of water, 

 which could be, and ought to be, set aside as a town or state sanctuary with- 

 out in the least interfering with legitimate sport. As a matter of fact, I am 

 convinced that it would tend to improve the duck shooting because it would 

 give all those black ducks which feed nearby a safe place to get fresh water, 

 which is what they must have in late summer and early fall. When the 

 bombardment on ducks begins on September 15 it is only a question of days 

 before the birds get discouraged and hunt quieter regions, as every one 

 knows. But with sanctuaries like Clark's Pond (and there should be numbers 

 of such places) the benefit to all concerned would in a few years be very 

 marked. 



For a long time the practical shooter nursed a grudge, not always a 



