JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 5 1 



walls. We found the nests so deep that we could not reach to the 

 bottom of them. The young birds were mostly beyond our grasp, 

 but once in a while one could be touched with the hand, after the 

 outer earth had been scooped away. The odor which they emit 

 from their mouths when in any way disturbed was plainly evident 

 around the nests and in this way, after ])ractice, one can tell pretty 

 accurately whether the nest is occupied. It is a smell something 

 like musk and quite pungent. On this island there were a good 

 many of the birds, but by no means the extensive colony which we 

 had expected to find. 



While we were landing on Woodenball we saw two Northern 

 Ravens, which flew directly over our heads almost within gunshot. 

 They are regular visitors to the island, so the fishermen say. We 

 found a place where they had been rooting up the turf in a search 

 for beetles, a common practice of the bird, it is understood. On No 

 Man's Land we saw two nests of the Northern Raven, and it is very 

 likely that here is where the two that we saw were raised. 



Just as we were leaving Woodenball island, in the morning 

 after our night with the Petrels, we saw on the southern cliffs a 

 company of Great Black-backed Gulls, recent arrivals in that 

 section, and counted something over thirty of the big fellows, who 

 looked as large as sheep as they were outlined against the sky. 

 They spend the cold months on the outer shores, being regular 

 winter residents in sparing numbers, this being the largest flock 

 that had been seen within the recollection of good observers around 

 these islands. 



Matinicus Rock is five miles farther out at sea than Matinicus 

 island. Here is where the famous lighthouse is located, and here 

 is where some 6000 Arctic Terns breed in season. The young birds 

 were gone when we were there, and there were not over 500 terns 

 around the rock. They scatter all up and down the coast, in search 

 of fruitful fishing grounds. This season, during the long rainstorm 

 in the time when the eggs were just hatching, many young birds 

 perished and many incubated eggs were spoiled. We looked in vain 

 for the Puffins, or Sea Parrots, six or more of which were here in the 



