1888
Nov. 8
Ipswich, Massachusetts
Cloudy; wind N. E. a storm gathering all day &
breaking at nightfall.
  To Ipswich with Spelman & Denton by 7.30 train.
Took a boat of Stone as usual and pulled down
to the mouth of the river. The tide was low with
the young flood coming in strongly and we had
a hard row before we reached the neck where we
landed Denton who spent the day on the great
hills to the north of the river. Spelman and I
crossed the river and landed at the sandhills.
Crows were flying south in considerable numbers
We saw them all down the river, at its mouth,
and over the great sand hills, perhaps 200 birds in
all. Spelman got a shot at one but missed. He
also had a shot at a pair of Sheldrake which flew
over the boat but missed them also.
  Most of the forenoon was spent beating the
sand-hills for Sparrows. They were more numerous
there than I have ever seen there before and
I killed twelve, eleven of these, including one double
shot, flying. I did not miss a single bird but
had to shoot one wounded one again. One
I killed on the salt march flushing it from a
ditch. The beach grass is unusually luxuriant this
year and afforded such perfect concealment
that nearly all the birds seen lay close and
none heard to start.
[margin]Flight of
Crows[/margin]
[margin]P. princeps[/margin]
  Shortly after lunch we climbed the big hill
south of the Sparrow ground and north of the
lighthouse. We had seen and heard Shore Larks
and Snow Buntings at frequent intervals during