32 PROCEEDINGS OP THE 



II. South Shore of Indian River Bay 



Ever since I began my field studies of Delaware birds I have 

 had in mind the strip of ocean front at the southeast corner 

 of the State as being an out-of-the-way locality, with possi- 

 bilities in the way of good bird records. As Ocean View seemed 

 to be the only town marked on my map as located in that 

 region, I have always kept that name before me as a basis for 

 operations. I could find no one who had ever been to Ocean 

 View or who knew aught of the country thereabouts, which only 

 served to add to the interest of the proposed trip. This section 

 now to be considered lies directly south of that formerly de- 

 scribed and extends to the Maryland line, about ten miles from 

 Indian River Inlet. 



The opportunity to visit this locality came in May, 1907, 

 when, after an uncomfortable illness, I went for a breath of salt 

 air and while not yet strong enough for hard tramping, my 

 brief stay of a day and a half gave a glimpse of the bird life and 

 a very fair idea of the character of the country and its ornitho- 

 logical possibilities which I do not hesitate to predict will prove 

 when carefully worked out to equal all my fancy has pictured. 



On the afternoon of May 19, 1907, I met my brother-in-law, 

 a Philadelphia physician, on a train southward bound at Wil- 

 mington, Del., and about four hours later, or at 8:15, we were 

 in a stage at Frankford, Del., a hundred miles south of Wil- 

 mington and but five or six miles from the southern Delaware 

 state line. 



We speculated en route as to the probable length of our car- 

 riage ride. I fancied it to be four or five miles, while the doctor 

 maintained that from the map it should be seven or eight miles, 

 and we were both a good deal surprised to learn from our driver, 

 who met us by prior arrangement, that we had ten and a half 

 miles to drive to reach Ocean View, and as the mistress of the 

 only house in that hamlet where strangers were entertained was 

 now ill, we were to go on a mile and a half farther to Cedar 

 Grove Park. As our train had just kept ahead of a threatening 

 thunder squall for the last hour and the clouds were still massed 

 ofiF to the northward, there was some uneasiness on the part of 

 one member of the party at least. However, we had a right 



