IN THE DUNES 27 



ing about in the tide on the marshes. Fifteen 

 years ago this bird, if discovered by a gunner, 

 would have been shot and taken to a taxidermist 

 to be stuffed. Now-a-days these birds give joy 

 to an increasing class of nature lovers, and they 

 are able to repeat their visits. In the summer of 

 iy2i, no less than six of these beautiful birds 

 were to be seen in the salt marshes. 



An interesting migration day in the dunes fell 

 to my lot in mid-March. Some six short-eared 

 owls were tarrying on their way North. Never 

 before had I seen more than two in a day's travel 

 in the dunes. The seaside grasshopper and toad, 

 the Ipswich sparrow and piping plover are well 

 adapted to concealment in the sand, but the 

 short-eared owl surpasses them all. Like them 

 it is somewhat sandy colored, but it bears at times 

 a most striking resemblance to a lichen-crusted 

 stump or a snow-flecked bit of driftwood. An 

 ornithological friend was enjoying with me the 

 sight of these birds and commented on their close 

 resemblance to stumps as they sat on the dunes 

 amid tufts of beach grass. One of them we had 

 watched and seen fly away, and, after we had re- 



