'^"ijig?^^] ' General Notes. 2I3 



which were young birds. Thej seemed at home and at ease in the field- 

 As I walked towards ihem at a distance they stood erect and moved 

 about; after I disappeared from their view all but two or three of them 

 squatted with their breasts resting on the ground. 



On August 31, I drove pretty much all over the Plover ground on 

 Nantucket without seeing a bird. There was a gentle southwest air in 

 the morning, with a squall accompanied with rain late in the afternoon — 

 aboift five o'clock. Early in the evening I was told that a flock of Plovers 

 had been seen coming in towards the north shore of Nantucket from the 

 Sound, and still later I was again informed of several other flocks being 

 heard, for it was now about 7.30 o'clock, dark, and raining moderately, 

 accompanied with but little wind. 



It would seem that birds of various kinds commenced to seek land at 

 about this time, for considerable numbers were soon heard calling as they 

 flew around the electric lights located at the tops of the high poles in 

 various parts of the town. This calling was nearly continuous up to one 

 o'clock, midnight, and I have only two or three times before heard such 

 prolonged and continual calling of the birds. They were apparently 

 bewildei-ed, and seemed to pass around a certain light for awhile, and then 

 pass to another, later coming back to the first one. I therefore think we 

 heard the same birds over and over again. In order to substantiate this I 

 made inquiry the next day of some of the life-saving crews located at 

 different parts of the island, as also of others, but none of them had heard 

 of any birds, and they were all apparently in a restricted area over the 

 town. While no birds were seen distinctly, many of the call notes were 

 recognized by others and by me, those of the Greater Yellow-legs 

 ( Totanus melanoleucus^) predominating. There were also the Smaller 

 Yellow-leg (Totanus Jiavipes), Golden Plovers {Ckaradritis domifiictis^, 

 Hudsonian Curlews {JVumenius hudsonicus) (heard only twice), Black- 

 bellied Plovers {Squatarola squatarola^ , Terns and Peeps. Several of the 

 sportsmen told me they heard the notes of the Eskimo Curlew 

 {JVumenius borealis'). I am inclined to the opinion that they must have 

 been mistaken, inasmuch as I was up until half past eleven o'clock p.m. 

 and did not hear any of them. It was with the liveliest anticipations for 

 the next day's shooting that I retired for the night. I arose at three 

 o'clock A. M., and my disappointment can be imagined better than told 

 when on looking out I found that the weather had cleared, the stars were 

 shining and the little air that was moving was from the north. Although 

 hopeless, I was driving over the western Plover ground at daylight, 

 hoping I might find a few tired birds. Seeing absolutely no birds in this 

 quarter up to eight o'clock, I picked up my decoys and drove eastward 

 where I remained until 1.30 p.m. and then returned home without having 

 seen a bird. On the way I saw a number of sportsmen, none of whom, I 

 learned on inquiry, had seen anything. All the birds had passed on with- 

 out stopping. This was the first defined migratory movement this season 

 of birds going southward. 



