32 



MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



branches broken 8\ feet from the ground. A week later the ice had wholly 

 disappeared. 



The level ground between the sand waves or amphitheaters varies in breadth 

 from two or three hundred yards to half a mile. Here are the bogs, the clumps 

 of bushes, and groups of trees and, except in midsummer, the pools of water. 

 At the northern end of the Ipswich dunes near the lighthouse, and partly shel- 

 tered by Castle Hill, the regular wave-like formation of sand is largely lost and 

 great confusion, like a choppy cross-sea, is to be found in the wind-tossed dunes. 

 Here also small circular depressions are common, with steep sides of sand all 

 around, where the wind has evidently played in a circle. One of the best places 

 to study embryo sand dunes is on the elevated parts of the beach, where clumps 

 of beach-grass are beginning to appear. Around these the blowing sand col- 

 lects. The deeper becomes the sand, tailing out to leeward, the more the grass 

 struggles above it, and the dune has its origin. 



The flora of the dunes is interesting. The most important plant is the 

 beach-grass {Ammophila arundinacea), already mentioned. This, besides 

 binding the sand, and offering a hiding and nesting place for the Savanna 

 Sparrow in summer, feeds with its generous seed-stalks many birds throughout 

 the winter, notably the Ipswich Sparrow, Horned Lark, Snow Bunting, and 

 Lapland Longspur. Another plant which binds the sand is the poverty grass, 

 {Hudsouia tomentosa), beautifully sage green and closely matted, in winter a 

 sandy gray, but covered in June with a profusion of golden blossoms which give 

 the lie to its common name. In the Ipswich dunes are two groves of pitch 

 pines {Pinus rigida), each of several acres in extent. Under these pines grow 

 a few lady's slippers {Cypripediuni acaule). There are several thickets of white 

 birches {Bctula populifolia), and in the bogs, alders {Alnus), aspens {Populus 

 tremuloides), and willows {Salix). The exceptional trees are a few red maples 

 {Acer rubrum), two elms (Ulmus americand), dwarfed and stunted, that look 

 large only at a distance, a few white pines {Pinus strobus), red cedars {Juni- 

 perus virginiand), a hemlock ( Tsuga canadensis), and a clump of red birches 

 {Bctula nigra). 1 Beach plums {Primus wariti/ua), from which Plum Island is 

 named, are not common at Ipswich. Sumachs, the staghorn {Rhus typhind) 

 and poison {R. venenata), are to be found, and poison ivy {R. toxicodendron) 

 abounds. Wild roses {Rosa), bayberry or myrtle {Afyrica carolinensis), sweet 

 gale {M. gale), shad-bushes {Amclanchicr), and meadow-sweet {Spinca salicifolia, 

 var. latifolia) are all abundant. There are also a few small clumps of rhodora 

 {Rhododendron rhodora), and may they long escape the ruthless flower-hunter. 



1 The only other place in the County where red birches are found is along the Merrimac River 

 and its branches. 



