Sept. 1889.] 



AND OOLOGTST. 



141 



nests contained twenty eggs. This is tlie 

 largest set of Sora Rail's eggs, I think, that I 

 have ever seen recorded. I also had the 

 pleasure of watching two of these sets through 

 the process of hatching, and, true to my ex- 

 pectation, they hatched from day to day, 

 as they had been laid. The young left the 

 nests as soon as dry, but whether one of the 

 parent birds took charge of them or whether 

 they shifted for themselves, I am imable to 

 say, but the setting birds stuck close to their 

 nests until all the eggs were hatched. 



The young birds were coal black all over, 

 except a tuft of down longer then the rest 

 growing out from under the chin, which was 

 red. They also have a red stripe over the 

 base of the upper mandible, that looks like a 

 blood blister that is ready to break ; altogether 

 making a curious looking young bird. On June 

 1, 188U I also collected a set of ten eggs of the 

 Virginian Rail {Rallns virf/inianus) from the 

 same swamp. Jamen B. Purdy. 



Plyiuoutli, Mich. 



An Addition to the List of the' Shore 

 Birds of Cape Cod. 



The summer and autumn of 1888 was an ex- 

 ceptionally good one for th^ occurrence of rare 

 shore birds at Monomoy Island. The capture 

 of several Stilt Sandpipers in breeding plum- 

 age, Baird's Sandpiper, and Red Phalarope 

 has been recorded in the O. & O., and I wisli 

 to add the Western Sandpiper to the list. In 

 .July I shot a Sandpiper on the meadows, which 

 showed much rvisty or bay in the coloration of 

 its upper parts. Early in September, Messrs. 

 Webster, Bishop, Whiting, Castle and myself 

 shot a number of sandpipers on the meadows, 

 and Mr. Whiting called our attention to one he 

 had shot as having an unusually long bill for a 

 Semipalmated, and expressed his opinion that 

 it was a rai"e sandpiper. Dr. Bishop and my- 

 self took the measurements and decided it to 

 be E. orridenlalU. Upon examining my spec- 

 imen taken in July we found it to be occklen- 

 tdlis in the spring plumage. Several others 

 were found in the lot of Semipalmated taken 

 by the above named gentlemen and several 

 were taken by Dr. Bishop and myself a week 

 or so later. One or two of them being shot on 

 the sand flats, I am inclined to believe that 

 this bird is not uncommon about Monomoy in 

 tlie autumn migi'ation of Sandpipers, as it 

 would easily pass for Semipalmated unless 

 taken in the hand and closely examined. 



John C. Cahnnn. 



The Herring Gull at Isle Royale, 

 Lake Superior. 



Of the water birds so common along the At- 

 lantic coast, the only one seen on our great 

 inland sea. Lake Supei-ior, in any quantity, is 

 the American Herring Gull. In June, I paid a 

 visit to Isle Royale, whose rocky coast and 

 outlying islands of rock form a natural haunt 

 for gidls and loons, the former occupying a 

 large island otf the northeast extremity, and 

 another colony nesting on a large rock north 

 of the main island, while along the shore an 

 occasional pair occupy small rocks jutting six 

 or eight feet above the water. 



The fishermen who arrive on the island early 

 in the season usually gather three or four hun- 

 dred fresh eggs for their own use and aside 

 from this the nests are rarely molested. The 

 usual complement of eggs is three, and to avoid 

 partially incubated eggs they generally take 

 from nests containing but one or two, such 

 nests almost invariably producing fresh eggs, 

 and the fishermen all concur in the belief that 

 if the first set of three eggs is taken the pair 

 lay another three and if these are taken, three 

 more are laid, nine in all, when the pair be- 

 come discouraged and lay no mone eggs that 

 season. 



At the time of our visit the nests contained 

 two or three young birds covered with a gray- 

 ish down, white beneath, mottled light and 

 dark on the back, and the head marked with 

 irregular blotches of black, and occasionally 

 an egg was found but always sterile. No at- 

 tempt is made at nest building, the lichens, 

 moss and grasses growing in any slight depres- 

 sion form the original basis and the accumulat- 

 ing excrement soon mats this into something 

 of a nest. The loud cries of the female gull 

 generally gave notice of a nest when located 

 away from the main colony and the young 

 birds constantly bobbed up their heads to look 

 at us as we approached and as our heads ap- 

 peared above one side of the rock, they would 

 disgorge a large mass of half digested fish and 

 slip oft" the rock on the other side and swim 

 away, the old gulls keeping well out of range, 

 but soon attracting a large number of others 

 by their incessant cries. 



While at Rock Harbor one of the party 

 brought into camp three quarter grown gulls 

 from a nest a short distance away, but no one 

 had the heart to sacrifice them for scientific 

 purposes and they were placed on a rock near 

 the nest. The parent birds, however, did not 



