BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. I07 



the last week of August. The only spring record I have is that of a pair of 

 full adults in black plumage in the collection of the Peabody Academy, taken at 

 Nahant, on June 7th, 1883. 



The habits of the Black Terns are very similar to those of the Common 

 Tern, but from their smaller size they appear more active. They are found 

 singly or in flocks of five or six, and at times they associate with the Common 

 Tern. I have never heard them utter a sound. 



In the autumn all the birds appear to be in winter or immature plumage, 

 with white breasts and bellies and dark backs. They have a dark partial ring 

 on the upper breast and a black patch around and behind the eye and on the 

 crown. Their small size makes their recognition easy, and their tameness often 

 permits close scrutiny. 



[86] Fulmarus glacialis (Linn.). Fulmar; "Noddy"; "Marbleheader"; "Oil-bird." It 

 is possible that the Fulmar maj in storms be driven within sight of the Essex County coast, 

 but I have no records for this region. It is strictly pelagic in its habits. Capt. Collins ' says 

 that the Fulmar "is fairly plentiful in winter from George's to the Grand Bank," — a region 

 several hundred miles to the east of Essex County. 



32 [89] Puffinus gravis (O'Reilly). 

 Greater Shearwater ; " Hagdon " ; " Haglet " ; " Hag " ; " Gray Hag." 



Common summer visitor off the coast ; May to October 12. 



Our Shearwaters breed in the southern hemisphere and spend the non- 

 breeding season, their winter, in our summer. They are birds of the ocean in 

 the strictest sense, rarely, while with us, coming near land, although in stormy 

 weather this occasionally happens. Mr. Charles Larkum, of Beverly, tells me 

 that during a northeast storm in October he saw a number of these birds about 

 half a mile off the mouth of the Essex River. 



I have sailed a good deal along the coast in small boats, generally within 

 three or four miles of shore, always on the watch for interesting birds, but never 

 until I made a special trip for them, did I find the Shearwaters. As Cape Ann 

 projects out so far, it is evident that we can gain something on Old Ocean by 

 starting from there, and I had been told by a fisherman, who knew the " Hags " 

 well from old experience on the " Banks," that I could see them there some ten 

 or a dozen miles off Rockport. On the day in question, there had been a heavy 



• J. W. Collins : Auk, vol. I, p. 238, 18S4. 



