256 



THE OOLOGIST 



found there, the Semipalmated Sand- 

 pipers were the most abundant; hun- 

 dreds of them were seen, both on the 

 beach and on the salt marshes. Close- 

 ly associated with them were the 

 Semipalmated Plovers, which were 

 also quite plentiful. On the beach 

 Sanderlings were quite common, and 

 four or five Black-breasted Plovers 

 were scattered along the end nearest 

 the river. One of the latter birds ap- 

 peared to be in full plumage, with a 

 glossy black breast, but this bird 

 could not be approached within gun 

 range. A pair of Knots were feeding 

 among the Sandpipers. A few Gulls 

 were present, mostly Herring Gulls. 



Hundreds of Terns were in the air, 

 the greater part of them were Wil- 

 son'*s Terns, but other species were 

 undoubtedly with them. 



A Harbor Seal came up to breath a 

 few yards off shore. On the salt 

 marsh a flock of about twenty-five 

 Lesser Yellow Legs were feeding in 

 a shallow salt pond. I flushed one 

 Pectoral Sandpiper from the grass. 



We collected the following birds for 

 specimens: Two Black Breasted Plov- 

 ers, (adult birds, but in transition 

 plumage), two Knots, two Lesser Tel- 

 low Legs, one Pectoral Sandpiper, six 

 or seven Semipalmated Plovers, a few 

 Sanderlings and some Semipalmated 

 Sandpipers. 



Sunday, August 31, I spent most of 

 the day in camps making bird skins, 

 for shore birds will not keep very long 

 without spoiling during the hot weath- 



0". 



Late Sunday afternoon I took a walk 

 around the shores of the two ponds. 

 I saw an Osprey and an immature spe- 

 cimen of the Bald Eagle on some dead 

 trees in the scrub oak country. At 

 the Northern end of the Little Herring- 

 pond I saw a fine adult Red-shouldered 

 Hawk, several green Herons, a pair of 

 Nighthawks and a flock of eight Wood 



Ducks. The latter appeared to be still 

 in their summer plumage. 



White tailed Deer are rather plen- 

 tiful on this part of the Cape, and 

 we found fresh tracks of two which 

 had been down to the ponds. 



Monday, September 1st, we again 

 made the trip to the beach. Along 

 the wood-road we saw the tracks of 

 Ruffed Grouse, and Bobwhite, but saw 

 no birds of either species. A flock 

 of four Wood Ducks flew over our 

 heads, going toward the larger pond. 

 Hairy Woodpeckers and Chickadees 

 were seen on the dead trees along the 

 path and one lone Chipmunk fearless- 

 ly watched us from the lower branch 

 of an old stub. Towhees were com- 

 mon under the Oak brush. 



A flock of Crows started an outcry 

 in a grove of pitch pine, and just as 

 I went in to investigate matters a 

 warning shout from Mr. Jones noti- 

 fied me that something had taken 

 place at the other side of the grove. 

 When I rejoined him, he said that a 

 White-tailed Deer had jumped from 

 the bushes and had just crossed a 

 nearby clearing. Whether or not this 

 deer was the cause of the excitement 

 among the crows I am not certain, but 

 it seems very probable. 



When we reached the beach we 

 found the Semipalmated Sandpipers, 

 Semipalmated Plovers, Sanderlings 

 and Terns as common as they were 

 two days before. On the salt marsh 

 we found but one Lesser Yellow legs. 

 We saw four Pectoral Sandpipers, 

 which we collected. 



As we walked along the beach on 

 our return to camp we saw a flock of 

 thirteen Loons, (Gavia imber) swim- 

 ming about two hundred yards off 

 shore. Their loud, laughing cry was 

 repeated many times as long as we 

 were in hearing distance of them. 



An Osprey sailed over us, quite 

 close, apparently not at all disturbed 

 by the proximity of hunters. 



