32 
Ete eA DD UeB OUNS seh taste ele 
his wing and the other makes a soft purring noise. Ihe 
Hairy Woodpecker hasn’t been visible for several weeks— 
does he go farther north to nest? They’re usually around 
all summer. 
In the way back up the hill a Rose-breasted Grosbeak 
sings his tree-top carol, but emerges only briefly flashing 
his dazzling color combination. The Grosbeak is one of 
the birds whose lovely song makes it hard for me to accept 
the concept of birdsong not expressing emotion, only 
staking out territory. A Brown Thrasher sledgehammers 
an anthill in the roadside sand. I have often seen him 
dust bathing (or anting?) in this same spot in high 
summer. 
From a huge oak above me comes “‘chip burr, chip 
burr, chip burr’’ but no sign of the Scarlet Tanager. Is 
the foliage too thick for the male to be visible or does the 
female call like that too? Later at the cottage the male 
sings his sore-throated robin song, in plain sight for all to 
see. When the Red Mulberries and Pin Cherries are ripe, 
we will see them frequently. Cottonwood fluff fills the 
air with gossamer bits. Only a few mosquitoes this morn- 
ing. Thank goodness! Sometimes they're plentiful enough 
along here to band together and carry you away. Good 
insects make good birding though. 
The House Sparrows are so clean and trim they look 
like Harris Sparrows for a minute. The House Wren ex- 
plodes with his ebullient song. He doesn’t usually nest 
here in the wet woods, but this year I’ve heard him on 
this little knoll by the swamp every weekend. The Catbird 
miaows constantly. I’d like to tune him out so I could 
enjoy the Wood Thrush. A Crow comes down in the 
road, perhaps to feed on the remains of the dead puff 
adder I noticed there last night. Very few snakes are 
visible around the Dunes these days. Sometimes I'll go 
several years without seeing one, dead or alive. Little red 
squirrels and ground squirrels are fairly common as are 
cotton-tail rabbits. No deer since the big mills came in, 
but I did see a muskrat in the drainage ditch along Route 
20 this spring. One June day in 1958 we saw 23 Turkey 
Vultures wheeling overhead at once. But now the large 
weoded areas are too built up or broken up by roads and 
we rarely see one. 
In sunny spots along the road’s edge the big Red 
Clover and White Sweet Clover are blooming. The Yellow 
Meliot is yet to come. Rabbit-foot Clover is just sending 
up its downy leaves. 
