THE OOLOGIST 



24 



AN OCTOBER TRIP. 



Having received a very cordial in- 

 vitation to join a hunting party about 

 to start for Cape Cod, I packed up my 

 gun and equipment during the even- 

 ing of October 10, 1916, and took it 

 down to Greenwood, where it was 

 safely stowed away in an automobile, 

 together with the belongings of the 

 other members of the party, Mr. Dins- 

 more Green, his son Harry and H. A. 

 Jones. 



The following day Jones and I met 

 the auto as it was passing through 

 Boston, and we were soon comfortably 

 settled in it and started on our one 

 hundred and twenty-five mile ride to 

 North Eastham, Mass., nearly to the 

 end of Cape Cod, and within about 

 twenty miles of Provinceton. 



There is a good road all the way 

 from Boston and the trip was a very 

 pleasant one. We finally left the main 

 road and followed a sandy cart path 

 for about a quarter of a mile and 

 stopped at the home of a typical Cape 

 fisherman. Here the auto was left in 

 a barn and our luggage transferred 

 to a wagon in which it was taken a 

 short distance through the sand hills, 

 and finally we reached the camp, a 

 new one which my friends had built 

 the year before, and a very comfor- 

 table one, as previous experience in 

 this line had taught them just what 

 was necessary and just what to avoid. 

 Here we made our headquarters until 

 Sunday night, October 15th. Although 

 we did not obtain any specimens 

 which were new to our collections, we 

 had a very enjoyable time and per- 

 haps some of our observations on the 

 bird life there may be worth record- 

 ing. 



The country around North Eastham 

 is naturally divided into three parts — 

 first of which comes the rolling sandy 

 uplands, in places thickly wooded, but 

 for the most part open country, 



sparsely settled, and covered with 

 wiry grass, grass moss and patches 

 of green bushes not over a foot high, 

 a favorite cover for the Bob-white. 

 Next comes the salt marsh, which 

 begins within ten feet of the camp 

 and stretches for a mile to the right 

 or left, but a five minute:, walk directly 

 across it will take you to the beach, 

 which I found to be the most inter- 

 esting place of the three at low tide, 

 but at high tide it is completely sub- 

 merged. 



The night of our arrival, after sup- 

 per had been disposed of and the 

 camp settled, we put on long wading 

 boots and walked out across the salt 

 marsh to an island, where we stood 

 and listened to the Black Ducks which 

 were quacking in all directions in the 

 sedges, as they gradually swam in 

 with the rising tide. We were far 

 enough from civilization so that no 

 sound came to our ears except the 

 ripple of the rising tide and the calls 

 of the wild fowl, and as we slowly 

 returned to camp, the moonlight fall- 

 ing upon the marsh and showing the 

 clear-cut outlines of my companions 

 with their long, wet wading boots 

 glistening like silver, made a picture 

 which I shall never forget. 



The next morning, October 12th, 

 Jones and I started early and spent 

 a very busy day exploring the sur- 

 rounding country, as it was the first 

 time I had ever been there and I 

 wished to get the lay of the land. The 

 tide was low at daybreak, so first we 

 went on the beach, which is on the 

 inner or bay side of the Cape. The 

 beach is all sand, no mud visible any- 

 where, and when the tide is low many 

 square miles of sand, are exposed 

 which naturally provides a grand 

 feeding ground for shore birds, gulls 

 and ducks. 



It was ratlier late in the year for 

 shore birds, but we saw about fifty- 



