1902] Saunders Birds of Sable Island, N.S. 15 



BIRDS OF SABLE ISLAND, N.S. 



By W. E. Saunders. 

 Sable Island lies about sixty miles south of the nearest coast 

 of Nova Scotia, and 150 miles a little southeast, from Halifax. 

 Most people who have any idea at all about Sable Island 

 think of it as a desert sandbar, over which shaggy ponies glean a 

 scanty subsistance from the tough native grasses and on whose 

 shore many lives have been sacrificed by shipwreck during the past 

 three hundred years ; but I viewed the island trom an ornithologi- 

 cal standpoint, and as usual the point of view made all the differ- 

 ence in the world. Instead of being a desert island on which 

 there was scarcely anything to interest one, it had for several 

 years been known to me as the only home in the world of the 

 Ipswich sparrow, and so far as I knew only one ornithologist had 

 enjoyed the privilege of seeing this bird during the season of 

 housekeeping It is called the Ipswich sparrow from the fact of 

 the first specimen having been killed by C. J. Maynard near 

 Ipswich, Mass. Had its life history been fully known when it was 

 named it would of course have been called the Sable Island sparrow, 

 and such should be its name now, for not only is Sable Island the 

 only breeding ground in the world, but an island upon which no 

 other land bird breeds. When an ornithologist has an opportunity 

 of visiting a bird whose summer home is so little known, there is 

 small wonder that he should forget all about the reputation of the 

 island as a desert and think only of the rare treasure, ornitholo- 

 gically-speaking, which is to be obtained there. 



So it may be imagined that I very gladly accepted the invita- 

 tion to be one of the party that was to reach Sable Island on May 

 16, and remain till the 23rd to make some experiments in planting 

 the island with forest trees ; and looking back on our trip it must 

 be said that not only were my own expectations of enjoyment more 

 than realized, but even other members of the party who had no 

 great expectations were very loath indeed to leave when the last 

 day came. 



More than forty persons have their constant residence there, 

 and the men of these families are employed in the work of the life 

 saving stations and the two lighthouses. Every morning and 



