Lake Umbagog.
Pine Point & Outlet.
1896
September 2
(No 2)
  Near where I shot the second Snipe I started a Bittern
from the edge of a pool surrounded by tall grass. It went off
over the Lake in the direction of Moose Point.
  About twenty Eave Swallows accompanied by two Swifts were
flying about over the marshes for the first hour of my
stay this morning but they all disappeared before I left.
I saw a single Bank Swallow there yesterday but have
not noted either the Barn or White bellied Swallow this
month.
[margin]Swallows &
Swifts.[/margin]
  A singular and very disappointing feature of this
season is the remarkable scarcity of Warblers and indeed
of all the small forest-loving birds. Thrushes, Titmice,
Kinglets, Warblers, Wrens and even Woodpeckers are one and
all represented by only a few scattered individuals. I have
seen only one gathering that could be called a flock and
that contained less than twenty birds. I miss sadly the
chirping, twittering hordes that for the past four years
have enhanced the woods on Pine Point. The few birds
now inhabiting these woods still pay regular morning visits
to camp & flit and chirp among the birches but
I rarely see more than a pair of Chickadees, a solitary
Red-bellied Nuthatch or Creeper and three or four Warblers
in any one morning. Elsewhere about the Lake shores
the woods seem utterly lifeless. It is evident that
the Nuthatches had left the country before my arrival &
both species of Crossbills seem to have since followed their
example but what has become of the Warblers? The flock
of upwards of twenty visited Pine Point on the morning of the
27th August. The night before I heard migrating Warblers chirping
almost incessantly. Since then I have heard almost none.
[margin]Continued
scarcity of
Warblers[/margin]