THE OOLOGIST 



148 



It only took a few minutes to secure 

 enough Black Tern to keep Worthing- 

 ton busy the rest of the day. Todd 

 and myself then went to the outside. 

 The wind blew furiously and at in- 

 tervals heavy showers came along 

 A heavy sea was running and huge 

 breakers thundered high up onto th' 

 beach. At the ''Point" were number 

 of Terns, a bunch of Sanderlings, an i 

 a lonely Black-bellied Plover. This 

 latter I took in for a starter. A heavy 

 shower coming u]), we took shelter 

 behind the Fog Station, wherein is a 

 boiler and sort of steam siren to warn 

 ships off the shores of the "Penin- 

 sula" during fogs or thick weather. 



Just opposite the station and on the 

 edge of the high beach was a large 

 flock of gulls and terns. When the 

 rain was the thickest I rushed at 

 them and under cover of the rain got 

 well up before they began to rise. I 

 got within ten rods of three Caspian 

 Terns before they began to rise. A 

 heavy charge of sixes brought down a 

 female in the young spotted plumage. 

 As the other two hovered over the fal- 

 len one, I picked out a fine male in 

 full dress, a fine fellow with a huge 

 red bill, and brought him down also. 

 Herring Gulls, Black and Commoii 

 Terns flew all about, but I laid for a 

 very white odd-looking gull. This fel- 

 low however, stayed away, and the 

 whole bunch soon left. Back at the 

 Point we found plenty of small terns: 

 also two adult Plover with quite black 

 breasts. I went around and fired at 

 long range as they arose, but with no 

 results. As they passed Todd, he kill- 

 ed the nicer of the two. Four Plover 

 soon alighted near Todd. He fired at 

 one that looked smaller than the 

 others, and secured a Golden, the 

 first seen on the trip. Todd then laid 

 in ambush while I drove the plover 

 back and he secured two more, one 

 being an adult with partly black 



breast. Todd next got a Titlark and 

 I secured a Tree Swallow from a flock 

 that came along. Gulls and terns 

 were constantly passing. It rained 

 hard and we got wet so went in for 

 dinner. 



After dinner I went over again and 

 along the beach above the fog sta- 

 tion, I saw a great flock of gulls. 

 There must have been nearly a thous- 

 and. All apparently Herrings. When 

 they arose it was a pretty sight in- 

 deed. I built a blind of wreckage and 

 laid low. Many gulls passed, the 

 heavy wind driving them in along 

 shore. Finally the right one came 

 along. A huge old fellow in as per- 

 fect plumage as any specimen. I 

 downed him and with the second bar- 

 rel got a very dark young one. I was 

 now satisfied with the day so went in. 



There were other interesting days, 

 but these two were the most interest- 

 ing to me. The next morning after 

 this blow, we found the body of a 

 sailor on the outside where it had 

 been washed up by the storm. The 

 body was that of one of the crew of 

 a big freighter that had foundered up 

 the lake near Girard, during a storm 

 about a week previous. It was in bad 

 shape and was a hard sight. 



The Sanderling was common every 

 day while I was there, as was also the 

 Killdeer and Semipalmated Plover. I 

 shot one Piping Plover, which was 

 the only one I saw while on this trip. 

 The Semipalmated Sandpiper and 

 Biack-bellied Plover were both quite 

 common. 



Most of the Black-bellied Plover 

 were in fall plumage. Besides those 

 already mentioned I saw one quite 

 nice adult one day and wounded, but 

 failed to get it. I got one other 

 Baird's Sandpiper besides the one on 

 the 10th. 



It was too early for ducks, but 

 about the ponds occasional Blue- 



