IN THE DUNES 29 



the dunes mobbed by a large flock of snow bunt- 

 ings that swirled about him and darted down 

 toward him as he sat serene on a dune top. The 

 only time I have seen this bird alight in a tree 

 was on a December day in 1918 when one flew 

 over the marshes within plain sight of my house, 

 cHud perched on the tallest tree on a marsh island. 



In June, 1917, a pair of long-eared owls nested 

 in the pitch pine grove to the northeast of Wig- 

 wam Hill. They occupied an old crow's nest in 

 a pine about twenty feet from the ground, and 

 brought up three solemn looking young that were 

 at first clad in white down. Their faces were 

 dark and their downy ear tufts were plainly vis- 

 ible even at this early age. One of the old birds 

 flew anxiously about among the trees, uttering 

 low, complaining notes which suggested the bark- 

 ing of a puppy. 



The interesting fact about this family of owls 

 was their diet, and of this they made a very good 

 record in the numerous pellets of undigested food 

 that they cast up and were found around the foot 

 of the tree. Their habits were not hygienic, for 

 the nest itself was covered, several layers deep, 



