THK OOLOGIST 



11 



three slightly iucul)at<<i eggs, and a 

 nest with two fresh eg s of the same 

 species. 



In 189J, at this same island I had 

 found a remodeled Gidl's uest, con- 

 taining one egff of the original owner 

 and three Eider's eggs with the old 

 Duck in possession. As the fishermen 

 •constantly rob these birds of their eggs, 

 it is not uncommon to take sets of two 

 <>r three eggs which are probably the 

 second or even third set laid by the 

 birds. I am informed that early in the 

 *<eason Eider s nests usually contain 

 four to seven eggs 



Leaving this island, we proceeded to 

 Black Lf^dge. !»i)out li miles distant, in 

 ord^r to inspect a colony of Black 

 (iuilleinois which nested there These 

 birds deposit their eggs in crevices of 

 oi- under the rocks, no attempt at nest 

 l)uilding i)eirig made By a careful 

 search we found eight sets of two eggs 

 «ach, and in nearly every case one of 

 the parent birds was occupying the 

 nest. These made no resistance to be- 

 ing caught and examined. On nearly 

 all of them a spot liare of feathers was 

 noticed on each side of the; breast I 

 ■could no^. determine whether the birds 

 had removed the feathers from these 

 ■spots so as to allow the eggs to fit nice- 

 ly into the cavities thus left, or wheth- 

 ■er the constant pressure of the eggs 

 while the bird was incubating might 

 have forced the feathers aside to leave 

 those featherless spots. 



The eggs are tlie handsomest which 

 are laid by iiny of our Maine birds, 

 being of a bluish white or in some cases 

 ■of a roseate bully white ground color, 

 and being spotted and blotched with 

 various markings of brown, brownish- 

 red, or black. The eggs are much 

 «ought for by collectors who desire a 

 •series for their cabinets, and any col- 

 lection is beautified by a set of these 

 handsome eggs 



We now departed for Heron Island 

 where the Great Blue Herons were re- 



ported to nest, i)ut on lauding a 

 thorough search of various trees reveal 

 ed no traces of the long-legged birds. 

 However, we found numerous Gulls 

 nests in the various trees; they had de- 

 parted from their u<ual habit of nesting 

 on the ground, and had placed their 

 nests at a considerable elevation in the 

 trees I suspect they had been driven 

 to do this by continued robberies of 

 such nests as were placed on the 

 ground. They were careful to select 

 trees whose trunks were bristling with 

 numerous small, dead lin)bs which 

 were too small to support a person, 

 and so would necessarily have to be all 

 broken off bj' a person climbing the 

 tree. Jt would take a very ardent ool- 

 ogist to secure any of these nests. 



As it was tiow noon, we enjoyed our 

 lunch in the shade of the trees, and 

 when through we set sail for Saddle- 

 back Ledge. On landing there I began 

 to search for a Red-breasted Mergan- 

 ser's nest, as the year previous I had 

 taken a set of ten eggs of the above on 

 this island. I soon found the nest, but 

 it was empty, and farther on I found 

 two einijiy nests of the American Eider. 



Wliiie walking about the island look- 

 ing tor a few nice sets of Common 

 Tern, I saw in front of me what I took 

 to be a rolled up bunch of feathers. I 

 wondered how the bunch came to be 

 where it was, and on carelessly kicking 

 it with my foot I caught a glimpse of 

 something round within. Examining 

 it closer I found it to contain four 

 Eiders eggs. I was much surprised to 

 find a nest of this species in such an 

 open place, it being in plain view, but 

 when it was first seen I never thought 

 of such a thing as its being a nest. 



We had noticed some Eiders leave 

 the island on our approach, so without 

 doubt the owner of this nest had cov- 

 ered the eggs well with the nest down, 

 both to keep the eggs warm and to 

 prevent our discovering them. If it 

 had not accidently been in my path, I 



