1902] Saunders Birds of Sable Island, N.S. 21 



poles and fence posts, wind is said often to scoop a round hole, 

 often of considerable depth ; at other times, when Boreas is in a 

 building- mood, it is piled up around the telephone poles, until 

 once it occurred that the line had to be moved to prevent the 

 wires from burial. Some of the poles we saw had only about six 

 feet left projecting^ out of an original heig-ht or 25 or 30 feet. 



My first thoughts on Sable Island were not for the success 

 of the forestry experiment, but for the little birds who made this 

 strange island their only home, and my ears were on the qui vive 

 for the first notes ; and although it was foggy and rainy, as we 

 approached the superintendent's house I could hear some sparrow- 

 like chirps, and in a moment or two I heard the first song of the 

 Ipswich sparrow, and was delighted to think that I would have 

 them at such close range as the front yard of the house in which 

 I was to stay. They proved to be veiy common, and one could 

 hardly go to the door without seeing on the board walk which 

 stretched away through the hay field, a pair or more, while their 

 song could be heard at almost every moment of the day from the 

 same point of observation. 



As the rain continued, and it was therefore deemed unneces- 

 sary to proceed with the work of the trip at once, I took advantage 

 of the opportunity in spite of the weather, to start oflF on a tramp 

 up ttie island. By far the most numerous of all birds there were 

 two terns the common tern and the arctic. These are the small 

 gull-like birds with the forked tail, whose skins have been used so 

 much in the past few years for the decoration of hats. On Sable 

 Island they are in thousands ; one can never go out of the house 

 without having them in sight and in hearing ; nor is there any 

 place on the island where it is possible to escape their presence. 

 The common tern probably outnumbers the arctic by about two or 

 three to one, but the habits of the two are so familiar that they 

 may be considered together. The roseate tern, a more southern 

 form, breeds in small numbers, and had just arrived at the time 

 of our visit. The nesting places of the other terns were scattered 

 all over the island. They breed as a rule in communities, although 

 we saw a few places where it seemed as though perhaps less than 

 half a dozen pairs would nest together. We were too early for the 

 height of the breeding season, but the birds had begun to lay, and 



