THE IPSWICH RIVER BIRD TRIP. 
Ralph Lawson. 
The sixteenth annual Ipswich River Bird Trip was made 
on May twentieth and twenty-first, nineteen hundred and 
twenty-two. Forty-five Club members and guests were in 
the party some time during the two days, and forty-one 
tented out at “The Pines” on Saturday night. Nearly ideal 
conditions of weather and temperature prevailed. Both 
days were clear and moderately warm, and although some 
wind was encountered on Saturday, the second day could 
not well have been improved upon. The season, after a 
somewhat late start, developed very rapidly during May, so 
that by the twentieth vegetation was well ahead of normal. 
On Friday night, May nineteenth, several Club members 
slept at the Club Camp at Boxford, and early Saturday 
morning were joined by others at the Middleton Paper Mills, 
from which point the start in canoes was made at nine- 
thirty, daylight-saving time. Four canoes carried the morn¬ 
ing party, which reached Howe Station shortly after noon. 
The next two hours were spent in and about Mr. Felt's 
camp, where luncheon was eaten, and as soon as the main 
party arrived, about two o'clock, the trip down stream was 
resumed. A short stop was made at the Club Camp, which 
was opened for the accommodation of any who did not care 
to tent out at ‘‘The Pines,” but the weather was so fine that 
no one availed himself of this opportunity. The leading 
canoes arrived at “The Pines” about six o'clock, where tents 
and shelters were quickly erected. Supper was eaten about 
seven o'clock, and, after searching the island and adjacent 
region, the party gathered around the camp-fire, where 
stories were told, songs sung, and the day's list checked up. 
Two or three canoe parties explored the marshes after dark, 
and one or two late arrivals were picked up at the Valley 
Road Bridge in Topsfield, a mile or two above the camping 
ground. 
19 
