LAND BIRDS OP THE DUNES 



constantly changing in inflection that one feels 

 sui'e that each has its meaning. A common 

 spring note is a hoarse rattling, sometimes 

 likened to the gritting of teeth; at other times 

 the birds laugh a loud ha, ha, ha, while a nasal 

 taunting nev-ah, nev-ah and ah, ah, expressive 

 of great relief, as well as wailing cries, are 

 common. Sir John Richardson called this 

 bird " the barking-croAv, " and old Chaucer 

 spoke of " the crow with vols of care." 



A still more peculiar note I have heard from 

 the mouth of a crow. Tliis was at sunrise on 

 a frosty December day close to my house at 

 Ipswich. Near my bedroom window sat a 

 crow that from time to time emitted two low 

 clucks, followed by a single booming sound, 

 the whole a phrase of unknown meaning, 

 which I wrote down thus : cluck-cluck, whoooo. 

 Between these phrases the crow cawed in an 

 orthodox manner. 



If one should attempt to describe all the 

 birds that pass through the dunes in the 

 spring and fall, he would be obliged to write 

 a general book on ornithology. An illustra- 

 tion of the abundance and variety of the mi- 

 grants is the fact that on a day in May my 

 friend, Mr. Ralph Hoffmann, saw within the 



91 



