18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



and there, while tuneful Meadowlarks and harsh-mouthed 

 Grackles voiced their sentiments. 



The Bobwhites were everywhere. They were always explod- 

 ing from under my very feet, and in a dry spot under a row of 

 trees near the Henslow's meadow they had dusted themselves 

 so persistently that the ground looked much like some sunny 

 corner in a well-filled chicken yard. 



Two weeks previously I had found the Hooded Warbler at 

 home in Cape May County, and had heard its song for the first 

 time, so when I heard a somewhat similar song coming from a 

 small patch of wet woods, I went over expecting to add this 

 bird to the list, but instead I found a male Redstart. A late 

 migrant no doubt, but when on August 7th I found a male 

 Redstart near the Maurice River near Porchtown, I began to 

 wonder if the bird could have spent the summer hereabouts. 

 Most likely this was an early fall migrant. Be this as it may, 

 one might count on seeing Redstarts in this country during four 

 months out of the twelve : May, June, August, September. 



Down near the barn was an alder thicket surrounding a 

 spring. While passing this spot I heard an entirely new bird- 

 note. I found it to be made by a Sparrow of some sort, but 

 continued observation failed to enlighten me as to the identity 

 of the species. There were two of them. Thej^ would divide 

 their time between the alder bushes, a young apple tree near by 

 and a pile of fence rails near the barn. I must have spent sev- 

 eral hours that day watching these birds, for after each of my 

 many foraging expeditions to the different parts of the farm I 

 would return and make another try at identifying this unknown 

 Sparrow. I jotted in my note-book all the markings — I had 

 never before made such elaborate field-notes on plumage — then 

 I went down to the boat, where I had a couple of handbooks, 

 and wasted an hour in trying to make my notes fit the book's 

 description, but it was difficult work with extremely unsatisfac- 

 tory results. The only thing that would at all fill the bill was 

 the Savanna Sparrow. In fact, the book's description of the 

 Savanna's habits fitted these birds admirably. I could not be- 

 lieve them to be Savannas, but the more I studied the book and 

 the more I watched the birds the more Savanna-like they be- 



