DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 15 



its plumage, especially in the spring and early summer, is often 

 quite rusty in appearance making the bird look very dark. At 

 a short distance it is not difficult to determine and very easy if 

 one is familiar with the characteristic note of the species, which 

 it invariably utters when rising from the strand. A short dis- 

 tance farther on while rowing along near a sod bank we had a 

 fine view of two Least Sandpipers at very close range, the brown 

 legs of the birds being made out with ease. The Least and Semi- 

 palmated Sandpipers are usually a rather difficult problem to 

 solve. Fortunately it is often possible to get pretty close to them 

 and make out the brown legs of the Least and the black legs of 

 Semipalmated. Of these two "Oxeyes" the Sand Oxeye (Semi- 

 palmated Sandpiper) seems to be much more common than the 

 Meadow Oxeye (Least Sandpiper). This may be due to the fact 

 that the Semipalmated as a rule keeps more in the open than the 

 Least though they frequently may be found together. In looking 

 at a flock of "peeps" in a salt pond it is an easy matter to over- 

 look the Leasts entirely, for while the Semipalmated Sandpipers 

 are feeding out in the open, the Leasts are liable to be up along 

 the edge and even in the grass surrounding the pond. 



After about an hour's row we passed all familiar land marks 

 and out into the water of Grassy Bay and later Little Bay 

 which looked to us to be about the size of the broad Atlantic 

 itself. The sun was shining brightly and heat waves were rising 

 over the meadows and water all about us. Distances as well as 

 objects were very deceiving. Forty Great Blue Herons on a far- 

 away bar to the north, stalked about, as large as Ostriches. The 

 Coast Guard station on Little Island looked about twenty miles 

 off the coast and was finally considered, after a lengthy debate, 

 to be a schooner. Buildings, trees and other objects were all 

 conceded to be buildings and were so numerous on what we 

 believed to be Little Island that we were fully convinced that 

 we had rowed past our objective point and were up opposite 

 Beach Haven. Surely we had done enough rowing to be there 

 and farther, anyway by following the inland waterways we had 

 gone some distance out of our way, yes! we were sure of that! 

 So we turned about and headed toward the eastern shore of the 

 bay. We saw a launch over there and we thought at least some one 



