6 Massachusetts Audubon Society 



twenty-five or thirty at a time, all around the ship. They are beautiful 

 birds, and it was a treat to have an opportunity to study them, for I had never 

 seen any before. Thursday, October 26, hundreds of fulmars remained 

 close to the boat all day. 



The skuas and jaegers were all on the American side of the ocean. I 

 remember the discussion that we had on a Brookline Bird Club trip last 

 winter, when several of us thought we saw a skua off Swampscott. I still 

 believe we were right, although I admit that I did not see the white spots 

 on the wings, which were so conspicuous on the birds that we saw from the 

 boat. 



Wilson's petrels were, of course, numerous during most of the voyage, 

 especially during the first half. And on one day, at least, Sunday the 22d, 

 there were some Leach's petrels. I should have been skeptical about this 

 bird, for it is difficult to tell, merely from watching petrels fly, close to the 

 water, whether the tail is square or forked. But I held three in my hand 

 and examined them closely. They had flown on to the deck in the evening, 

 attracted, no doubt, by the light, and were presumably helpless until we 

 threw them over the side to fly again. 



There were a few dovekies and razor-billed auks, but not so many as 1 

 had expected to see. Then October 28, the last day, as we approached the 

 French coast, puffins became more and more numerous; we even saw several 

 flocks of a dozen or so at a time. These were really French birds, but as the 

 same species is found on both sides of the ocean, I might have included them 

 in my list of American birds, had I not already seen one last winter. (No, 

 I should not claim them for my Massachusetts list!) 



Another American species living also in Europe is the gannet; about 

 ten of these beautiful birds hovered around the boat for several hours on 

 the next to the last day. And the red-throated diver that we saw in the 

 harbor Saturday differs only in name from our red-throated loon. 



Other European birds appeared as we skirted the coast of Brittany and 

 finally came to the dock at Havre; common scoters, lesser black-backed gulls, 

 black-headed gulls, and even one common gull; the last bears this name, in 

 England, I suppose, because he is less coiumon than almost any other variety; 

 that is the English way of doing things. But that is another story. Our 

 trip was at an end, and at last we closed the list for American birds, unless 

 we wish to include the starlings in the Paris parks; or unless, perchance, we 

 stumble on to some horned larks when we go into the country. 



L. R. Talbot. 

 Paris, November 10, 1922. 



BIRD BANDING 



Bird banders that were busy last winter trapping winter visitors and 

 migrants are waiting anxiously for the cold weather to send along the tree 

 sparrows, chickadees, purple finches and other Northern species that winter 

 in New England. Mr. Aaron C. Bagg of Holyoke, Mass., has made the 

 first return. Last year between February 11th and March 24th he banded 

 55 tree sparrows about his home. This year on December 4th he noted two 

 about his trap and observed that they both wore bands. One entered and 

 was taken. Upon examination it proved to be one of last year's visitors. 

 The significant fact is that this bird returned to winter in the same spot 

 this year that it did last season. 



