io8 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



and the knot at their summer breeding ground 

 in the far North. The last dowitchers observed 

 passing northward along the Jersey coast were 

 late in May, and the first arrivals returning from 

 the North made their advent on July 6, when a 

 pair were seen. The next day several small flocks 

 appeared passing South. Thus, in a period of 

 less than sixty days these birds journeyed pre- 

 sumably over thousands of miles, and returned 

 by the same route. In addition, it is also prob- 

 able that they had laid eggs, spent a very con- 

 siderable number of days incubating the same, 

 and finally had reared broods of young ones 

 which came South, almost simultaneously with 

 their elders to the Jersey coast, full-grown birds. 

 It is therefore evident that the work and study 

 of Barnegat was abandoned only because of the 

 greater exigency of other demands, and not from 

 lack of material or interest. 



My work at Princeton during this and the suc- 

 ceeding seasons dealt largely with the winter bird 

 fauna of the immediate vicinity ; and some of the 

 observations made in connection with this work, 

 especially that of the winter of 1878 and 1879, are 

 recorded in a paper cited in the appendix. 



Notable was the advent in the vicinity of 

 Princeton during this winter of great numbers 

 of a kind of small owl known as the saw- whet, 

 which became very plentiful in certain cedar 



