Vo1 ' i920 CVI1 ] Farley, Sandpipers at Plymouth, Mass. 81 



clam flats which remain bare longer than the outside beach. But in 

 very severe weather the Inner Harbor freezes over and the flats are 

 covered as long as the extreme cold lasts.) 



" I went to the place on the beach where I saw the Sanderlings 

 and the Red-backed Sandpiper together and found their little foot- 

 prints in the slush. The whole beach up to high-water mark was 

 nearly all snow and slush. As I returned up the beach two hours 

 later from the Spindle, the aspect of things had become decidedly 

 wintry. The incoming tide dashed with a subdued crash against 

 the shore the thousands of pieces of floating ice. There was now 

 nothing but snow up from the advancing water's edge. The bare 

 sand had been covered by the rising water. But away up on the 

 beach where the exposed sand and pebbles had withstood longest the 

 encroaching tide, I naturally looked for the beach birds. Horned 

 Larks were plentiful here and I soon found the Sand?rlings. The 

 three flew from the beach ridge — from the line of snow-covered 

 pebbles above high-water mark. Found their tracks here — also 

 those of Horned Larks. Apparently the birds had been at the exposed 

 dry brown seaweed, for the tracks of both species had almost 

 trodden down the snow. I noticed also that empty fresh mussel 

 shells recently dropped by the gulls had been visited by both 

 Sanderlings and Horned Larks. A very little of the "meat" re- 

 mained in the shells — which may have made it worth the little 

 birds' while." 



The week of January 28 was very cold at its end. The ther- 

 mometer stood at 46° at noon on the 30th and 31st. A little snow 

 fell during the night of the 31st, but melted the next day (Febru- 

 ary 1) when an easterly fog came in from Cape Cod Bay. Late 

 on February 1 the temperature was 32°. Friday, the 2d, was 

 colder, and in the evening very cold. On the morning of the 3d it 

 was 4° below zero down town in Plymouth, while at the Head of 

 the Beach (our station) it was 2° above. It was the coldest weather 

 of the winter to date. February 4 was the coldest Sunday of 

 the winter so far, and practically all of the Inner Harbor was frozen 

 over, making it hard for the Black Ducks to get food. 



"I went down the beach this Sunday morning under favorable 

 conditions, for it was low water and much of the flats on the out- 

 side were exposed, making a mixture of a good deal of bare sand 



