22 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



to the place by spending three or four days there, and in 19 14, a Least Bittern, 

 I have reason to believe, nested there. 



During the cat-tail period, rails, which were only rarely seen during the 

 migration in the marsh period, became abundant and Soras and Virginia Rails 

 bred in considerable numbers, only to dwindle with the mosquito when the cat-tails 

 were cleared. Coot are often abundant on its waters. 



Shore-birds find a less favorable spot here than in the old brackish-marsh 

 days with its mud sloughs, and some of them, like the Pectoral Sandpiper, have 

 largely, if not entirely, forsaken it. The two species of Yellow-legs and the 

 Solitary and Least Sandpipers are common on the pond's shores in the migra- 

 tions, and Snipe have somewhat increased. 



The open water of the pond became a favorite resting and feeding place for 

 migrating water-birds, and it would doubtless have been much more frequented 

 had it not been for the activity of gunners. The gunners attributed the falling- 

 off in numbers of birds to the building of a house a quarter of a mile from the 

 pond, not realizing that in protected regions ducks come in numbers notwith- 

 standing, as in city parks, the near vicinity of houses and many people. Ducks 

 know too well the danger associated with the discharge of gunpowder, and a 

 single boy with a gun soon puts a pond on the black list for all intelligent 

 water-fowl. 



One of the commonest water-birds of the pond in the late summer and until 

 the water freezes, is the Pied-billed Grebe and, I am inclined to think, if the 

 cat-tail period had continued longer this species would have bred. Herring Gulls 

 visit the pond at times, but rarely. Among the ducks, the Black Duck is by far 

 the most abundant visitor. Flocks of forty or more feed and rest there during 

 the latter part of the summer and one or two pairs have bred nearly every season. 

 Other birds of this group that have been seen on the pond are the Red-breasted 

 Mergansers, Blue-winged Teal, Shoveller, Wood Duck, Redhead, Lesser Scaup 

 Duck, and Golderi-eye. 



Clark's Pond. 



Near the eastern shore of Great Neck at the mouth of the Ipswich River and 

 separated from Plum Island Sound by a low sand-bar and beach lies a pond of 

 about a hundred acres in extent, known as Clark's Pond. An artificial dam pre- 

 vents its draining and holds back the tides from entering. Except on the sea- 

 ward side the pond is surrounded by low rolling hills barren of trees and bushes 

 and used only as pasture for cattle. The low, muddy shores form, especially in 

 dry weather, extensive flats. Purple loosestrife in great thickets has occupied 



