Metcalf, on Birds of Cape Fear Region 
29 
front and the river gradually converge until they meet at (’ape 
Fear, some twenty-six miles southeast of Wilmington. It is 
this narrow peninsula that we were surveying and on which 
we were located. The area is principally light sand and not 
very suitable for cultivation, therefore, the southern half of the 
peninsula is practically without inhabitants and has grown up 
to a mixed growth of pines and oaks chiefly. The northern half 
is more thickly populated and supports some good truck farms 
and one or two summer colonies on the beach. A typical cross 
section of the southern half, starting at the river, would be as 
follows: a narrow river beach rising abruptly to a higher level, 
which continues for about three-fourths of the width of the 
peninsula, then a sudden drop to a broad salt meadow flanked 
by sand dunes just back of the broad ocean beach. These de- 
tails are given that one may better understand our local situa- 
tion. Further north the broad salt meadow is replaced by the 
sound, which is a favorite haunt for certain water birds. 
Along the river front the most frequent birds were the Rough- 
winged Swallows and the Egrets. In the woods the Blue Jay, 
Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Yellow- 
throated and Parula Warblers held sway. In the salt marsh 
Clapper Rails and Chuch-wilPs-widow. Along the ocean beach 
Fish Crows, Least Sandpipers, Brown Pelicans, Gulls and Terns 
were most frequently observed. 
From the standpoint of the birds observed the two weeks 
were most .enjoyable, and what more pleasant memories could 
remain after half a year than that in spite of hard work and a 
blistering sun, in spite of mosquitoes in our tents and ants in 
our beds there remains the steady roar of the ocean on one 
side and the call of the Chuck-will’s-widow and the plaintive 
frog-like clatter of the Clapper Rail on onr land side to sing ns 
to sleep. 
In this connection a comparison of the list of birds by 
Fleisher, made between April 13 and April 20, on the land side 
of the river, is interesting (Auk, Oct. 1920, 565-572). Professor 
Fleisher saw ninety-eight species in April. I saw eighty-eight 
species in May and June, and sixty of the species are common 
to both lists. 
From the standpoint of interest the chief records are of the 
Scarlet Tanager and the Redstart. This is the first record 
of the Scarlet Tanager and the Redstart along the coast in the 
breeding season. The Barn Swallow has been recorded only 
