1906
Dec. 4
(No 2)
  Mr. Francis N. Batch of Jamaica Plain gave
me to-day a most interesting account of his
experience with Red-bellied Nuthatches on Cape Cod
(at South Orleans, I think it was) last September.
During the latter half of this month the birds
literally swarmed in the marshes and on the
sand dunes where he was shooting, hopping about
on the ground among the beach groves and in
the wetter parts of the marsh climbing among
the stems of the reeds or sedges. On several
occasions they alighted on his plover decoys
which were placed in a pool of shallow
water and when he was sailing, well out
from shore, they repeatedly visited his boat and not
only ran up the mast along the boom
but even climbed up the stiff, rounded slopes
of a canvas sail that was bellied out by
a strong wind.
  Mr. Batch also told me that there was a 
very considerable flight of Knots at South Orleans
last September, quite the largest, in fact, that
has been noted there for years. His party killed
about a dozen of these birds and many more
than this were shot by some other sportsmen
of his acquaintance on a position of the shore
which lay beyond his gun range. The birds
frequented the beaches as is their usual habit.