THE EQUINOCTIAL ON THE DUNES. 67 



their food among the hills, but on the shore 

 where the carrion of the sea is left by the tide. 

 The ocean edge is usually strewn with dead fish, 

 sea birds, and shell-fish. Around these rem- 

 nants are to be seen the tracks of gulls and 

 crows, or the birds themselves. That morning 

 the upper air was noisy with crows coming back 

 from their night roost. They soon scattered 

 along the beach, feeding. For some reason the 

 ducks had disappeared from the lagoons. A 

 few flew past up the coast, but the greater part 

 seemed to have already moved northward. It 

 was upon these sand-hills that the Ipswich spar- 

 row was first shot in December, 1868. The bird 

 is much like the grass finch in contour, and in 

 behavior when approached by man. Its coloring 

 is that of the Savannah sparrow, only several 

 shades lighter. During the March migration 

 the Ipswich sparrow is readily to be found 

 among the dunes. Startled by my coming, three 

 of them stopped feeding on the edge of a small, 

 clear lagoon and flew up the steep side of the 

 sand-hill above it. This sand-hill was dotted 

 with clumps of coarse, yellowish grass, the sand 

 itself was a shade paler than the grass, and the 

 sparrows' plumage toned in with both so per- 

 fectly that when the birds alighted it was almost 

 impossible to see them. One dropped down 

 behind a bunch of grass, and ran along swiftly 



