iSq3 J General Notes. 8 1 



Sept. 4 was cloudy with wind southeast, then east, then northeast; it 

 began to rain in the afternoon; at ten p.m. it was raining and blowing 

 hard; it was thick during the night with wind north-northeast, with rain 

 at intervals ; from three until ten a.m. it blew very hard, with rain at times. 

 Nothing to note. Sept. 5, I was on the western ground at daylight. The 

 wind kept backing until it reached southwest in the afternoon with clear 

 weather, and bright moon at night. I rather expected some birds to come 

 on but none landed. I was out until 5.30 p.m. 



The weather was pleasant and clear, and no birds came, until Sept. 15. 

 The previous evening the wind was strong, southeast; at midnight it was 

 blowing thirty-five miles an hour and raining hard, continuing until near 

 morning when the wind changed to northwest, a light breeze. I saw two 

 flocks of young birds of about twenty-five and thirty birds respectively, the 

 larger flock, although undisturbed, I saw mount up into the air and go on 

 migration. These two flocks were apparently new arrivals. I also saw 

 several flocks of black-and-white-breasted birds which also, I think, landed 

 the night before. On Sept. 16 I saw in all about one hundred Plover, but 

 I am quite certain the greater part of them were from the field whicli is 

 preserved. Sept. iS I drove eastward where we saw about fifty birds 

 (some of those whicli were living there). In the afternoon we saw a 

 flock of about thirty young birds (probably the flock noted on Sept. 15), 

 and another flock of five old and one young bird. 



For the next week the weather was clear and pleasant, but with consid- 

 erable wind from west to north. No new birds came on as far as I could 

 ascertain. I saw about one hundred young birds on Sept. 25, but I am 

 not certain that I did not see some of them more than once, as these were 

 birds that were living on the island. 



At about four o'clock on the afternoon of Sept. 26 a flock of Plover con- 

 taining about forty birds was seen flying towards the west from the north- 

 east, they were pretty well up in the air. During the following week (to 

 Oct. 3) the weather was clear and pleasant. I drove over most of the 

 ground twice, and made inquiry, but did not see or hear of any new 

 arrivals. I regarded the migration as over for the season at that time, 

 though it was still possible, but not probable, that some young birds 

 might yet be passing. 



Summary. — The season of 1892 has shown much weather favorable for 

 Ianding Plover; it has also shown that more birds, both old and young, 

 did land than for the previous three years combined. It also showed that 

 ,on Aug. 27, the afternoon following the night of their landing, owing to 

 their being greatly harassed, the larger portion of the birds departed, 

 notwithstanding that the weather conditions were very unsettled and 

 apparently scarcely warranted their leaving. Also that while they were 

 on the islands of Nantucket and Tuckernuck they manifested the greatest 

 uneasiness and reluctance in remaining, leading up to windward well up 

 in the air with the possible idea of turning back and plainly showing to 

 me, as far as I was able to interpret their actions, that they were remain- 

 ing much against their will, seemingly determined to leave at the earliest 



