Vo1 - x ] Mackay on Fly Lines. 2\*] 



in sight at the time the last flock passed. To many it would seem 

 wild to wager that the next flock to appear would do likewise, 

 yet such could be predicted with reasonable certainty, for it was 

 their Fly Line for the time being. 



I have also noticed flocks of American Golden Plover ( Chara- 

 drius dominicus) leading along the headland on Nantucket 

 Island, adjacent to the beach, until they reached a certain place 

 on the shore, when their course would be abruptly changed, turn- 

 ing inland, without any apparent cause. At other times I have 

 seen flock after flock lead inland and, on reaching a certain point, 

 turn oft" and follow a slight, scarcely noticeable, depression in 

 the land. As I interpret it, they pursued these courses in each 

 instance because'it was their selected Fly Line while passing from 

 one portion of the island to another. Should they mount up 

 into the air and circle several times, and then head south, you 

 may say goodbye to that flock for at least a year, for they have 

 started on their line of migration, this second movement being 

 certain to follow the first. 



Seconnet Point, Rhode Island, is separated from the Newport 

 shore by the Seconnet River, which at its mouth is four and a 

 quarter miles wide. I have here watched many migratory move- 

 ments of the three varieties of Scoters in the spring as they passed 

 on their lines of flight northward. When the wind is southwest, 

 whether blowing hard or almost calm, at a certain undefined 

 place off the Newport shore they will turn and pass on up the 

 river for a mile or more, then again turn and come out around 

 Seconnet Point, resuming here their regular line of flight as 

 before. There is no apparent reason why they should adopt this 

 out of the way course, rather than the straight one directly across 

 the mouth of the river, which would be their direct line of flight ; 

 yet do this they will, and for the time being it seems to be their 

 adopted Fly Line under the conditions as stated, but not otherwise. 

 I instance this to explain what I intend to convey by lines of 

 flight changing their character temporarily into Fly Lines. The 

 same is true of the Golden Plover ( Char adr ins dominicus) at 

 times when they pass over Nantucket Island without stopping. 

 The American Crow (Corvus americanus), Black-bellied 

 Plover (Charadrius squatarold), Knots {Tringa canufns), 

 Turnstones (Arenaria inter pres), Eskimo Curlew {Nutncnius 



