BIRDS OF EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS. 
115 
obtuse bill. Indeed, so nearly does it resemble the P, 
gramineus^ that amateur ornithologists to whom I have 
shown it have unhesitatingly pronounced it to be that 
species. 
I give the comparative measurements of the two speci- 
mens, remarking that Professor Baird’s was made from the 
dried skin, while mine was taken from the fresh bird. 
The Ipswich Sand-hills, where the specimen was pro- 
cured, is a most peculiar place. I never have met with its 
equal anywhere. Years ago these Sand-hills, which are 
three miles long by three fourths of a mile across, and con- 
tain about one thousand acres, were covered with a thick 
growth of pine-trees. Protected by these trees, and among 
them, dwelt a tribe of Indians, whose earlier presence 
is indicated, not only by tradition, but by numerous shell 
heaps scattered over the Sand-hills at irregular inter- 
vals. Indeed, even now the ashes of camp-fires may be 
seen, apparently fresh. Upon the advent of the white 
man, the usual event transpired, namely, the disappearance 
of the trees ; and to-day, with the exception of a few scat- 
tering ones at the southeasterly corner, near the house 
of the proprietor of the Sand-hills, Mr. George Woodbury, 
not a tree is to be seen. All is bleak and barren. The 
surface of the ground, once covered with a slight deposit of 
soil, has become a mass of shifting sands. Many times has 
the present owner had cause to regret the want of fore- 
sight in his ancestors in removing the trees, as the several 
acres of arable land around the house are now covered 
with sand, including a valuable apple-orchard. Upon this 
orchard the sand has drifted to the depth of thirty feet. 
Some of the trees present the curious phenomenon of ap- 
ples growing upon limbs that protrude a few feet only 
above the sand, while the trunk and lower branches are 
buried ! The Sand-hills, in places, are covered with a 
sparse growth of coarse grass, upon the seeds of which, 
