1890
July 17
Martha's Vineyard, Mass.
Cape Pogue Pond.
Cloudy most of the day with dense fog. Two heavy thunder showers
late in the afternoon the sky clearing somewhat at sunset and the
wind settling in the N.W. and blowing half a gale all night.
  I rose early and after getting breakfast started out with my Kodak
to photograph some Terns' nests. The sun shone dimly at intervals
for the first hour and I got a number of pictures. Most of
the Terns' nests found on the 29th June were empty to-day.
Either they have been robbed or the eggs have hatched. I looked
in vain for young Terns. There were a good many Roseates
about the beach to-day and some of them acted as if they
had nests or young but probably their sympathies were attracted
purely by the alarm of the breeding Wilson's Terns. The Least Terns
have evidently deserted this beach although several came to fish 
in the bay. 
  I spent most of the morning writing my notes sitting in 
the canoe with the Terns flying about me and Piping
Plover flitting from place to place along the beach. 
After dinner I put the canoe in the water and sailed
across to a point where I had seen a tent hoping to
get some drinking water there. The occupant of the tent
proved to be an actor from New York who was camping
alone. He proved very entertaining and I spent an hour or
more talking with him and inspecting his camp etc.
A Yellow-winged Sparrow was singing on the bluff behind
his tent and a number of Gulls (smithsonians et atricilla),
doubtless the same birds seen yesterday, were sitting on the sand
spit. My new acquaintance called the large ones Gulls and
the smaller ones "Gullets" and said they were his weather cocks
for they always sat facing the wind.
  As I sailed back over the pond the wind freshened to
almost a gale. I landed at my old camping place