108 



THE OSPREY. 



Old Nathan had purchased Cobb's Island, 

 paying- therefore $20 in cash and 100 

 bushels of salt. Then building- him- 

 self a raft he floated his house out to his 

 newly acquired domain. Here he lived 

 for some time, fishing- and shooting- for 

 market and shipping- to New York and 

 Philadelphia. Later he and others built 

 and opened a hotel, in which part of the 

 lumber used was drift and wreckag-e 

 picked up on the beach. This finally 

 passed throug-h several hands, and is now 

 controlled by a syndicate from Lynch- 

 burg-, Va., which paid *20,000 for the 

 hotel, some cottag-es, and 25 acres of 

 g-round, about five years agfo. 



When I first visited the island it was 

 about seven miles long-, the lower end, 

 where all the houses are situated, was 

 about a third of a mile wide, and all the 

 upper part was. a long- strip of narrow 

 beach, low and sand)% and back of which 

 were the marshes. 



Now, since the hurricane, I understand 

 that the island at low tide is almost the 

 orig-inal length, but much of the beach 

 at lower end being- washed away, it is not 

 more than about 100 yards wide and only 

 about 25 acres of solid g-round is left. 



Originally there were a number of 

 trees, some maples and Lombardy pop- 

 lars being- planted about the lower end. 

 Farther up were some low scrubby cedars. 

 All remaining- now, are, as I understand, 

 a small mulberry and a poplar. 



The United States g-overnment estab- 

 lished a life-saving- station on the island 

 about the year 1876 or 77. A year or so 

 asfo this was moved farther back to the 

 hisfher ground and was so saved from be- 

 ing- washed away during the storm. 



Cobb's Island is situated about nine 

 miles out from the coast of Northampton 

 County, and is separated from the main- 

 land by what is called "The Broadwater." 

 Between the island and the mainland are 

 the marshes where most of the shooting 

 is done. Large bags of game used to be 

 made and are now at times. On one tide, 

 in Aug-ust, 18S1, I killed about 20 Cur- 

 lew {Xiimeiiiiis hudsoiiicus), 00 Willet 

 {^Svmphemia semiptilmata^ and 120 Gra}-- 

 back {Macroi-haiuphns griseiis), besides a 

 number of smaller fry. No license used 

 to be necessarv, but I believe the last 

 legislature of Virg-inia passed a law re- 

 quiring- a person to pa}^ $10 to shoot, and 



this has kept away some sportsmen. The 

 fishing-, as a rule, is fine, larg-e catches of 

 Weakfish (Sea Trout) being made. 



Amongst the birds that used to reg-u- 

 larl}- breed on the Island and in the vicin- 

 ity, were the following-: Least, Common 

 and Forster's Terns; Flood Gull (Black 

 Skimmer); Willet; Laughing Gull; Oys- 

 ter-catcher ; Wilson's Plover; Clapper Rail; 

 Seaside Sparrow; Sharp-tailed Sparrow; 

 Red-wing-ed Blackbird; Barn Swallow; 

 Green Heron; Nig-hthawk; Boat-tailed 

 Grackle; Fish Hawk; Great Blue Heron; 

 Snow}' Heron; Spotted Sandpiper; Gull- 

 billed Tern, and Caspian Tern. 



Capt. C. H. Crumb, an enthusiastic 

 ornitholog-ist ^vho had charge of the life- 

 saving- station when I was at the island 

 in May, 1891, g-ave me the following- list 

 of some of the rarer birds that had been 

 taken on the island: Am. Eider; Black 

 Brant; Brown Pelican; Louisiana Heron; 

 Black-crowned Nig-ht Heron; Yellow- 

 crowned Nig-ht Heron; Black Guillemot; 

 Purple Gallinule; Florida Gallinule; Scis- 

 sor-tailed Flycatcher; Chuck-wili's-wid- 

 ow; Connecticut Warbler, and Prothono- 

 tarv Warbler. In the Ornithologist ami 

 ai^o-/^/ October, 1891, Mr. Edw. J. Brown 

 records the capture of a young- male Red- 

 start, and a friend tells me that he saw a 

 Woodcock on one of the marshes. On 

 my last trip to the island I remarked 

 the absence of the English Sparrow. 

 One of the inhabitants told me it had 

 never made its appearance on the island, 

 further remarking that "if anybody 

 brought them there, that person would 

 be shot." 



Cobb's Island has several times been 

 washed over b}- the ocean, and I was 

 there during an easterly storm in 1808 

 when the sea washed over nearl}^ all of 

 the island, drowming- about twenty or 

 more cows that were g-razing- on the 

 marshes. After the recent hurricane, a 

 correspondent of The Baitimore Sun vis- 

 ited the island in order to verify the con- 

 flicting accounts that had been given of 

 the damage done, and the substance of 

 his report is here attached. 



He says, October 19: "After quite an 

 adventurous trip The Sun's correspondent 

 succeeded in reaching- Cobb's Island yes- 

 terday by means of a small sailboat, in 

 company with several other visitors. * 

 * * Our boat was the first one to carry 



