THE OOLOGIST. 



329 



Leach's Petrel- 



lu wriling au account of a day's out- 

 ing it is almost invariably the custom 

 to make tlie first few sentences in re- 

 gard to the weather. To most pursous, 

 the state of the weather undoubtedly 

 does have a great deal to do toward the 

 enjoyability of the trip, and to follow 

 this custom I will say that on the twen- 

 ty-second of June, 1893, I do not re- 

 member whether it was very warm or 

 very cold or whether the sun shone or 

 not. All I do recollect about ihis all- 

 important subject is that liiere was 

 enough breeze to make the little fish- 

 ing boat lean over in a most delightful 

 manner, as we hummed along toward 

 our destination. 



The "We" included Mr. Chas. K. 

 Reed, the fisherman, who received thi'ee 

 dollars for the use of his boat witli his 

 services throvvn in, and myself. Now 

 Mr. Reed spends about fifty weeks of 

 the year mounting birds under his 

 "Patent Oval Convex Wall Shades"; the 

 other two weeks he alwajs plans to 

 spend hunting for eggs and for 

 recreation. So for about a week we 

 had been wandering around among the 

 islands of Penobscot Bay, Me. We 

 found plenty of recreation but not so 

 many eggs. Nevertheless we were 

 having a good time and on this particu- 

 lar day we were bound for one of the 

 outer islands, to see what we could do 

 with the Leach's Petrel or as they are 

 known among the iishermen the "Gary 

 Chickens." 



About eleven o'clock we drew near 

 the island. When half a mile from it 

 we knew there were plenty of l)irds 

 there, although not one was to be seen, 

 for the wind coming to us from over it 

 brought to our nostrils the peculiar 

 musky odor which these birds always 

 give out. The boat was soon anchored 

 in the lee of the land and embarking in 

 the dory we rowed to the shore, mak- 

 ing a landing without much difficulty. 



The island was about ten acres in ex- 

 tent ai)d covered with a growth of 

 grass and weeds. A couple of lobster 

 fishermen had made it their head- 

 quarters and remained there except in 

 the coldest of the weather. They came 

 down to the shore to inspect us, for vis- 

 itors were scarce at that lonely spot. 



We had found out by experience that 

 the best way to make friends with 

 these Penobscot Bay fishermen was to 

 tell them one's iiistorj^ and business 

 without being "pumped" very much 

 for it. So we immediately told them 

 that we were "ru.sticators," which is 

 a name th^y have for city people who 

 are pleasure-seeking in the country, 

 and that we were spending a few da,ys 

 around among the islands looking for 

 sea birds eggs for our collections. Thej^ 

 were immediately interested and told 

 us 'o hunt the island over and welcome 

 but were afraid we would not lind 

 much but "Cary Chickens." 



"The Carv Chickens are just what 

 we would like to get" we answered. 



"Take the pesky things," said one of 

 them, "we'll be glad to get rid of them; 

 they bother us so some nights that we 

 can't sleep." "Yes," added the other, 

 "after dark they ;ire as tliiek as skeet- 

 ers and we can kill any number by 

 throwing slicks in the air; they keep a 

 s(iueaking going all the time that used 

 to bother us dreadfully about sleeping." 



In its breeding haliits the Leach's 

 Petrel is a nocturnal bird, coming and 

 going to its nesting place only after 

 d ark . 



Upon turning our attention to the 

 island we found it completely honey- 

 combed witn the buiTovvs of the Petrel; 

 some within a few feet of the fisher- 

 men's rude shanty; burrows here, there, 

 evei'y where; hundreds of them, thous- 

 ands of them wherever there was soil 

 enough to dig into; but whore were the 

 liirds? Not one was in siglit, not a 

 wing fluttered over the island, not one 

 in sight over tlie sea- 



