XIII 



ALONG THE BEACH 



IT was early on the morning of July 

 twenty-first, 1897, that I climbed with 

 a friend into a two-seated wagon, bag and 

 baggage, under the very eye of West 

 Chop Light and started out on one of 

 Martha's Vineyards old shell roads for the 

 Katama Plains. 



Our intention was a tramp in quasitu 

 avium around this great Massachusetts 

 island, along the south or ocean beach 

 from Katama to Gay Head, then back by 

 the Vineyard Sound shore. It drizzled 

 now and then as we set out, but the sun 

 overpowered the gray clouds later and 

 glistened on the shining foliage of the 

 scrub oaks that compose the principal 

 sylva of this island. 



The avi-fauna of Martha's Vineyard is 

 pecuHar ; few species, hundreds of individ- 

 uals. Chewinks are omnipresent, and 

 their song is the most continuous sound 



