FINCHES. 203 



shows the necessity of strict accuracy and the utmost care in 

 scientific investigation. 



Mr. Maynard says : " The Ipswich Sand-hills, where the 

 specimen was procured, is a most peculiar place. I never 

 have met with its equal anywhere. Years ago these Sand- 

 hills, which are three miles long by three fourths of a mile 

 across, and contain about one thousand acres, were covered 

 with a thick growth of pine trees. Protected by these trees, 

 and among them, dwelt a tribe of Indians, whose earlier 

 presence is indicated, not only by tradition, but by numerous 

 shell heaps scattered over the Sand-hills at irregular intervals. 

 Indeed, even now the ashes of camp-fires may be seen, appar- 

 ently fresh. Upon the advent of the white man, the usual 

 event transpired, namely, the disappearance of the trees ; and 

 to-day, with the exception of a few scattering ones at the 

 southeasterly corner, near the house of the proprietor of the 

 Sand-hiUs, Mr. George Woodbury, not a tree is to be seen. 

 All is bleak and barren. The surface of the ground, once 

 covered with a slight deposit of soil, has become a mass of 

 shifting sands. Many times has the present owner had cause 

 to regret the want of foresight in his ancestors in removing 

 the ti'ees, as the several acres of arable land around the house 

 are now covered with sand, including a valuable apple-orchard. 

 Upon this orchard the sand has drifted to the depth of thirty 

 feet. Some of the trees present the curious phenomenon of 

 apples growing upon limbs that protrude a few feet only above 

 the sand, while the trunk and lower branches are buried ! 

 The Sand-hills, in places, are covered with a sparse growth 

 of coarse grass, upon the seeds of which, as I have remarked 

 elsewhere, thousands of Snow Buntings feed. There are, in 

 some places, sinks or depressions with the level of the sea. 

 In these sinks, which, except during the summer months, are 

 filled with fresh water, a more luxuriant growth of grass ap- 

 pears. Walking, on December 4, 1868, near one of these 

 places, in search of Lapland Longspurs, I started a Sparrow 

 from out the tall grass, which flew wildly, and alighted again 

 a few rods away. I approached the spot, surprised at seeing 

 a Sparrow at this late day so far north, especially in so bleak 



