Vol. XVIII 

 igoi. 



1 Bishop, Winter Birds of Pea Islaiid, N. C. 26 1 



Regarding the general character of the place, I had found little 

 to change my views when I left for home on the morning of Feb- 

 ruary 18, but I was more than once surprised at the birds which 

 made these marshes and flats a winter home. 



Pea Island lies between Oregon and New Inlets, separating part 

 of Pamlico Sound from the ocean, and is about 30 miles north of 

 Hatteras. It is about five miles long by one mile in width, and 

 along the center stand the dead stumps of cedars, showing its once 

 greater elevation. But I was told these stumps have looked the 

 same for over one hundred years, and now at high tide their roots 

 and most of the island are covered ; little but the crest of the 

 ocean beach, a few sandhills covered with a sparse growth of beach 

 grass, and islands of salt marsh showing that there is land beneath 

 the waves. 



In storms and by very high tides these too are covered, and 

 only the few buildings show above the water. I was told that 

 the water had been at times a foot deep on the floor of the club- 

 house, although this building is situated on the highest land on 

 the Pamlico Sound shore, and elevated several feet from the 

 ground. At such times great destruction of life among the smaller 

 land birds would seem probable, and the wild fowl that find a con- 

 genial winter home, with abundant food easily obtained in the 

 shallow water of the Sound, can be shot from the clubhouse 

 veranda. 



At the time of my visit some unknown cause, for food was 

 abundant — possibly the unusual saltness of the water from the 

 long drought — had made the Geese and Redheads desert these 

 waters, and the Brant, able to feed through the low tides, kept so 

 far ofifshore that trying to shoot them was useless. 



In the marshes, of which a number are each several acres in ex- 

 tent, often intersected by broad or narrow channels, compose most 

 of the sound shore of the island, may be found in places patches of 

 low bushes, showing no sign of life in winter, and broad stretches 

 of a sharp-pointed marsh grass, apparently the same that com- 

 pose the salt marshes of western Florida. Our northern marsh 

 grass occurs also, and in sufificient quantity to keep about twenty 

 horses and cattle in good condition, though left to forage for 

 themselves all winter. Not a tree is now growing on Pea Island, 



