LIBRARY 



THE CANADIAN 



FIELD-NATURALISkL ^' 



VOL. XXXIV. 



OTTAWA, ONT., SEPTEMBER, 1^20. 



No. 6. 



AMONG THE COFFIN-CARRIERS. 



Bv Harrison F. Lewis, Bergerville, P.Q. 



Near at hand lay the nest-dotted green slopes 

 of the island, stretches of rank grass alternating 

 with thickets of raspberry and waving alder; 

 farther back were the sparkling blue lake waters, 

 with here and there flocks of great Gulls bedded 

 upon them; and in the distance rose other islands, 

 dark-green lumps, marked with numerous white 

 spots proclaiming their winged inhabitants at home. 

 The picture was most charming, but upon it the 

 eye did not linger, for the centre of attraction was 

 directly overhead, imperiously demanding atten- 

 tion. There, in the bright rays of the June sun, 

 with the soft blue sky as a background, wheeled 

 and circled, a hundred feet above me, a black and 

 white cloud of six hundred Great Black-backed 

 Gulls, the largest, the most magnificent, the most 

 inspiring of cur Sea-gulls. There was a scene 

 which could not be duplicated ! 



Not in Labrador, not in Greenland were these 

 Gulls gathered thus. The lake in which they make 

 their home is bordered in part by farm lands, is 

 within a mile or two of a railway, and within 

 twelve miles of a town of seven thousand people. 

 Although considered one of the wildest of Gulls, 

 the Great Black-backed Gull ( Larus marinus) or 

 "Coffin-carrier" has established this colony, de- 

 clared by Dr. C. W. Townsend to be "the largest 

 breeding colony of this bird known, and the most 

 southern one," in the midst of an accessible, agri- 

 cultural country at Lake George, Yarmouth Coun- 

 ty, Nova Scotia. 



Lake George is situated in the northwestern 

 part of Yarmouth Country, in latitude 44 N., long- 

 itude 66 2' W., four miles from the Atlantic 

 shore. It is four miles long and two miles wide, 

 has a very irregular shore-line, and contains about 

 a dozen islands, on seven of which, in the northern 

 part of the lake, the Gulls nest. The greater part 

 of its shore is wooded, but at no place are farm 

 lands far distant, while for two or three miles they 

 border directly upon the beach. The water-supply 

 for the town of Yarmouth, twelve miles distant, is 

 obtained from this lake. 



I know of no generally recognized names for 

 the islands occupied by the Gulls, but in order to 

 make my records intelligible I have adopted for 

 my own use names which are here given, together 

 with sufficient information to render the islands 

 identifiable. Big Gull Island is the largest island 

 in the northern part of the lake, and has a larger 

 number of nesting Gulls than has any other island. 

 It is about a quarter of a mile long and half as 

 wide, and rises some forty or fifty feet above the 

 surrounding waters. The greater part of it is 

 covered with alders and wild raspberry bushes, 

 but there are some areas of open grassland, and a 

 few spruce trees. Northern Gull Island lies north 

 of Big Gull Island, to which it is similar, although 

 smaller and with a larger wooded area. Bar Island 

 is a low bar of rocks and gravel, of small extent, 

 without trees or bushes. It lies south of Big Gull 

 Island, and is elevated but one or two feet above 

 the surface of the lake. Garnet Island lies south- 

 east of Big Gull Island, near the eastern shore of 

 the lake. It is small and narrow, and supports two 

 or three living spruces and about a dozen dead 

 ones. On its western side is a rather large area of 

 coarse red sand, made up of small garnets. Cat- 

 brier Island, lying south of Garnet Island, is thick- 

 ly wooded. A small thicket of Catbrier (Smilax 

 rotundifolia), which is uncommon in Nova Scotia, 

 grows among its trees. Southern Gull Island is 

 another small wooded island, lying south of Cat- 

 brier Island. Round Island is fairly well wooded, 

 and IS more nearly circular than are the other 

 islands named. It is near the western side of the 

 lake, at some distance from the remainder of the 

 Gull colony. 



My latest visit to this thriving colony was made 

 on June 16, 1920, when I spent about six hours 

 there and landed on each of the islands on which 

 the Gulls nest, and made in each case a short, 

 rough survey, walking over as much of each island 

 as was practicable and noting numbers of nests, 

 eggs, and young birds. As the greater part of the 

 nesting area is covered with a dense growth of 



