52 JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL .SOCIETY. 



breeding season. They had lieen seen within a day or two. but had 

 now left in quest of l)etter feeding grounds. We ate dinner with one 

 of the keepers of the lights and saw many eggs just as they had been 

 left by the birds after the rain had rendered them useless. As we 

 rowed ])ack to Matinicus in Captain Young's dory we saw quite a 

 number of Ruddy Turnstones on the sea weed which covered the 

 outer rocks where the waves frequently broke in foam. 



THE GULLS OF NO MAN'S LAND. 



W. H. Brownson in the Portland Advertiser. 



After we had taken dinner we started off to find Captain Mark 

 Young, the well-known warden in the employ of the National 

 Audubon society, who takes excellent care of all the immense num- 

 ber of sea birds in this cluster of islands. Now Captain Young's 

 aid was really necessary if we expected to see the most interesting 

 things which here abound. He owns a dory, he is a seaman of 

 long experience, he knows all the best landing places on the rocky 

 islands, he is moreover the sole proprietor of No Man's Land, which 

 boasts of the densest colony of Herring Gulls on the Maine coast. 

 There may be more birds on Great Duck island, off Mount Desert, 

 but they are not so thickly gathered in a limited area. Dropping 

 his work, without a moment's delay. Captain Young announced 

 himself ready for the row over to the Gull colony, and thus we set 

 out in his dory for what proved to be the greatest sight in the bird 

 line that had ever fallen to my lot. On Two Bush island, which lay 

 directly in our path, a big flock of Gulls arose from a jutting ledge 

 and I exclaimed at the unusual number, but my companions smiled 

 quietly and remarked that we had not yet begun to see Gulls. Thus 

 we approached No Man's Land and I soon felt well repaid for my 

 visit, even if not another bird should be seen while we remained. 



Young Gulls and old Gulls were everywhere. This island is 

 some twelve acres in extent and it did not seem that there was a 

 square yard of it which (Hd not hold one or more birds. One side of 

 the island is sparsely covered with turf and the other is given up to 

 a growth of stunted black spruce trees. Gulls; white and dark, 



