DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 35 



of the triangle out beyond the marsh was, except for several 

 sloughs, comparatively dry. Covering it sparsely were dead 

 and dying trees in shapes of sturdy defiance or cringing im- 

 potence. Twisted and contorted by ravening storms,' they stand 

 gray sentinels at the post of duty. In life gaunt fighters ; in 

 death they were petrified symbols of endurance past human. 

 The dead were half the trees on the point, the living were mostly 

 pines and oaks. Only one other large tree had chosen this 

 dangerous outpost, the swamp maple, and only a few of these. 

 The undergrowth was not nearly so thick as in the swamp. 

 Briars were almost absent and huckleberry bushes were numer- 

 ous. The thickets were completed by birches and gums. 

 Bracken and pine spills covered the floor. Flung in all direc- 

 tions were fallen trees and dead logs. 



Over these and through the undergrowth we pushed, flushing 

 birds at every step. These were Sharp-tailed Sparrows, Yellow- 

 throats, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, and Carolina Chicka- 

 dees. Other species were not revealed by a hasty search, and on^; 

 glance upwards discovered but a few Crows' nests bunching the 

 tops of the pines. I gave up the end of the point and headed 

 for the rice marsh. Gracefully it waved in shimmering greens 

 to the unsteady breeze. Halting at the edge, I calculated the 

 difference between the depth of the water and the height of my 

 boots. As I stood there in dubious indecision, I was suddenly 

 thrown into the second thrill of the afternoon. A large bird 

 sprang from the marsh not fifty feet in front of me. An erupt- 

 ing geyser could not have made my heart hammer faster, for 

 those poorly hidden islands of mud were the last places I would 

 have thought could have concealed so large a bird. Save for 

 one shrill cry it rose silently, and gaining power with each wing 

 stroke swiftly made for the meadows. To disappear from view 

 in soaring flight was a matter of seconds. From where I stood 

 I could plainly see the bird's nest which occupied completely 

 one clump of mud, and was but slightly screened by grass. 

 Even at a distance of fifty feet the glint of blue eggs caught my 

 eye, and their beckoning glamor broke my spell-bound posture. 



I confess my movements were curiously like those of a bird 

 dog on stand, changed by the hunter's shot into a frenzy of 



