BIRDS OF THE CAMBRIDGE REGION. 



33 



very numerous in autumn), and the typical form, caudacuttis, which bred spar- 

 ingly, up to 1 87 1 or a little later, on Whittemore Point, a marshy promontory 

 that jutted out into the bay just to the westward of the present location of 

 Harvard Bridge. 



Practically all the marshes along the river, from Cambridgeport to Water- 

 town, were frequented throughout the summer by Savanna Sparrows and 

 Spotted Sandpipers ; in July and August by hordes of migrating Bobolinks and 

 myriads of graceful Swallows ; in autumn by undulating flights of Titlarks ; in 

 winter by flocks of restless Snow Buntings whirling over the fields of drifting 

 ice, and by sable Crows which came to feed on the mud flats exposed at low 

 tide. Occasionally at the latter season — but only at wide and infrequent 

 intervals — they received a visit from that prince of Arctic wanderers — the 

 great Snowy Owl. 



The work of reclaiming — or, as some of us prefer to characterize it, of 

 destroying — the Charles River Marshes has progressed rapidly and relentlessly 

 of late. Although not as yet nearing completion, it has already resulted in the 

 total obliteration or very serious disfigurement of most of these once primitive 

 and beautiful salt meadows. Indeed, the only one of any size remaining essen- 

 tially unspoiled is that which borders the Cambridge Cemetery on two sides and 

 stretches still further westward along the north bank of the river. 



The transformation wrought in the surface conditions of the marshes, has 

 been accompanied, of course, by equally profound changes in their bird life. Of 

 the birds which used to inhabit or visit them, only a very few continue to do so, 

 at least. regularly or numerously. The Herons have nearly or quite disappeared 

 within the past three years ; the Sandpipers and Plover come but infrequently, 

 and in ever diminishing numbers ; the Swallows and Bobolinks only by tens 

 where formerly there were hundreds. The loss of these and other marsh- 

 frequenting birds has been compensated for in large measure, however, by the 

 increased number of water-fowl to which I have just called attention. 



The Mount Auburn Region. 



Mount Auburn — or Sweet Auburn, as it was formerly called — was one of 

 Nuttall's favorite haunts. Its abrupt heights and deep hollows were covered in 

 his time by heavy and perhaps primeval forest, frequented by sportsmen in pur- 

 suit of game and by troops of children looking for nuts or for the shy hepaticas 

 which bloomed in early spring on some of the sunnier slopes. Most of the trees 

 and all the brushwood had been cut away, and the place otherwise adapted to the 



