19^ 



THE OOLOaiST 



Notes from Goose Island, Michigan 



In the northern part of Lake Huron 

 lies a long low strip of land known as 

 Goose Island. In length it does not 

 exceed a mile, while at its widest 

 point it is scarcely over one hundred 

 and twenty-five yards across. The 

 northern end is a rather pretty flower- 

 dotted meadows, fringed with a growth 

 of bushes and small trees. The center 

 is thickly overgrown with young 

 cedars which are practically im- 

 penetrable. The lower or southern 

 end is covered with a rank growth of 

 coarse grass interspersed with a few 

 small poplar trees. Around the entire 

 island is a stony beach, of varying 

 width, which makes walking decided- 

 ly unpleasant in anything but heavy- 

 soled shoes. 



For years past this has been the 

 seldom disturbed home of the Herr- 

 ing Gull, along with a few other 

 species of water birds and a consider- 

 able number of song and insectivorous 

 ones. 



When visited in 1913, one hundred 

 or more pairs of Gulls were breeding 

 there but this year the number was 

 found to have dropped to approximate- 

 ly seventy-five pairs. This decrease 

 may be due in part to the growing 

 tendency of the summer residents of 

 the town of Hessel and vicinity to 

 make trips to Goose Island in order 

 to secure a few of the young Gulls 

 for pets. Another reason may be that 

 of late years would-be sportsmen 

 have found this (during the months 

 of July and August) an easy hunt- 

 ing ground for fledgling ducks. Of 

 course I do not mean to accuse any 

 of those gentlemen duck slaughter- 

 ers of shooting Herring Gulls, yet it 

 is very probable that a person who 

 would kill young ducks, unable to 

 fly, would not be above taking a prac- 

 tice shot at anything that flies. 



My visit this summer was limited 



to three days, the 12th to 14th of July, 

 of which the greater portion of the 

 12th was spent in making the seven 

 mile row out and in seting up our 

 camp. Likewise the 14th was large- 

 ly spent in breaking camp and our 

 return trip. (By the way we were 

 careless enough to pitch our tent 

 among a few small shoots of poison 

 ivy. The result was a slight dose on 

 the arms, legs, and face. Moral — 

 Never pick poison ivy for a bed-fel- 

 low.) As soon as we were fairly set- 

 tled I set out to see what was to be 

 found in the way of breeding birds. 

 As was to be expected at that late 

 date, I was disappointed with the 

 Gulls as most of their eggs had 

 hatched and the young gone. How- 

 ever some few nests contained young 

 which I eagerly photographed. One 

 nest in particular interested me for 

 it held two young ones, of which one 

 was several days old while the other 

 had just come out of the egg. The 

 picture of this couple was really the 

 only one of any value that I secured, 

 of the Gulls. In another nest I found 

 one young one dining on an already 

 half-eaten perch. On once being fed 

 by hand he refused to touch the fish 

 if it was put down. Therefore the 

 only thing left to do was to feed him 

 until he was thoroughly satisfled. Of 

 the other nests we found all but one 

 or two were empty, although a few 

 contained rotten or deserted eggs. 

 The young that had left the nest 

 would take to the water on a signal 

 given by the old birds as soon as any- 

 one was seen approaching. In this 

 way they would be out of sight be- 

 fore you could arrive anywhere near 

 them. Prom the fact that they set so 

 low in the water it took a fleld glass 

 to pick them out even though they 

 were not very far off shore. By going 

 out in a boat one could soon catch all 

 he desired. In this manner we ob- 



