Vol, xxn 



1904 J 



57 



During these June days and through the first half of July the 

 and was ringing with bird songs. Along the village highway, 



tangle and thicket came the sweet, homely notes of Song Spar 

 rows Maryland Yellow-throats, and Summer Warblers. In the 

 woods back of the village the loud, clear whistle of the White- 

 hroated Sparrow, calling Sam Peabody-Peabody-Peabody 



struck the keynote of all that was wild and delectable in thes^ 

 solitudes. The song of the Olive-backed Thrush sounded far and 

 near over the tree tops and across clearings, while from all about 

 U.e woods came the dry, monotonous ditty of the Black-throated 

 Green Warbler. These three songs were the dominant notes of 

 the woodland This is far from saying that other bird notes were 

 not appreciably present to the attentive ear. The rapid chippin. 

 song of the Junco, the tiny tin trumpet of the Canada Nuthatch 

 the wiry notes of the Hudsonian Chickadee, the screeching calls' 

 of wandenng Whiskey Jacks, to say nothing of the more familiar 

 notes of Robins, Flickers, and Crows, all these and others fell 

 upon the ear with more or less frequency, but back in the woods 

 from dawn to sunset, you were rarely if ever out of hearing of 

 some Peabody song, some Olive-backed Thrush, or some member 

 ot the ubiquitous and tireless tribe of Vireos 



For several reasons I have not attempted to present the birds 

 of this interesting region in the form of a list of species. In the 

 first place I was only a casual observer of the birds during three 

 summers and only an indifferent collector during my third and 

 last sojourn. In the second place the bird fauna of the region is 

 already well known, and a list at the hands of one who took life 

 easy would necessarily be imperfect. What I have tried to do is 

 to record my impressions of the bird life as a whole and what 

 facts fel in my way that related to certain birds in particular 



The shores of Barrington Bay are largely tide-washed beaches 

 of coarse gravel, loose rocks, and bowlders covered with brown 

 rock weed. The ebbing tide lays bare extensive 'flats' of eel 

 grass and exposes numerous ledges on which many harbor .eals 

 gather to sun themselves. Here and there a bar of sand affords 

 a haunt for the restless flocks of shore birds, while the Herring 

 Gulls and the Terns settle in long rows on these sand strips at 



