38 BEACH GRASS 



sought to take the fish from him, he would alight 

 close to his beloved one and present her with the 

 choice morsel, following up his gift with court- 

 ship antics. She, meanwhile, calmly and ap- 

 parently without the least concern for him, swal- 

 lowed the tidbit. 



I fully expected to find the terns laying their 

 eggs above the beach after such actions, but, no, 

 they left for other regions. I feel, however, that 

 it is only a question of a short time before the 

 terns return to their own. and again nest at Ips- 

 wich beach. 



For many years I had enjoyed squatters' rights 

 in the dunes in the possession of a camp. This 

 was situated in the grove just described which 

 had furnished such a wealth of migrating birds. 

 It is near the southern end of the dunes, equi- 

 distant from the sea beach on the outside and the 

 beach of the estuary on the inside. In this camp, 

 and in tents near at hand, my family, some 

 young friends, a poll-parrot, a canary bird and I 

 spent August in 1912. We lived to a certain ex- 

 tent off the land and water. Fish, the common 

 clams and the larger sea clams, furnished much 



