22 RECORDS VOLUME XI, FEB., 1 9 J 9. 



I was away from the island eight days. When I 

 returned on September 29, Miss Gleason reported a 

 notable flight through the period of my absence. V cry 

 wet weather had prevailed, tollowed by a southerly gale 

 and clear skies September 27, 28, 29, becommg n. w. 

 September 30 (?) as I remember. October 1 was clear 

 with strong s. w. wind. October 2 and 3, c.ear and 

 strong n. w. wind. October 4 was clear with strong 

 s. w. wind; rain at night and October 5 and 6 with wma 

 from north. 



1 began to take two hour bird walks on October 6. a 

 notable flight having begun (probably October 5). It 

 increased in the clear weather on October 7 and 6. The 

 8th was the crest of a very high wave. I have never 

 before seen so many sparrows. They were too restless 

 for my necessarily laborious identification, and I ceased 

 trying, the better to cover the rest of the field in my 

 limited time. I have no doubt there were many spe- 

 cies present besides those noted below. My time was 

 so limited that I did not go far afield and no attention 

 was given to shore birds. 



This wave was a sparrow wave. Each two hour 

 walk yielded twenty to thirty species of birds, the 9th 

 included, when a marked decline in numbers of birds 

 had taken place, principally due to the departure of the 

 bulk of sparrows. October 10 and 11, I have been too 

 busy for any observations. You would have noted sev- 

 eral hawks, I was not sure of, also. Finally today 

 (October 11) I saw a redheaded woodpecker. 



October 10 and 11 I made no notes, but gained the 

 impression that the wave was declining, principally by 

 the departure of sparrows. 



October 12 I walked four hours in the morning and 

 two in the afternoon. There was a gentle s. e. wind, fol- 

 lowed by rain and fog at night. October 13 brought 

 fresh s. to s. w. winds with intermittent fog, haze and 

 faint sun. My notes cover only an hour from Kelsey 

 Cottage to Walter Davis' and back; two hours with 

 camera in the afternoon showed birds to be scarce else- 

 where. 



