6o JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Notes on Leach's Petrel and Other Birds. — I took my 

 vacation this year off the coast of Maine and visited the islands 

 known as Wooden Ball and Seal Island, off Rockland, Maine. 

 You may remember the short article in Bird-Lore which I wrote last 

 year, after visiting the first of the above-named islands, and in which 

 I described how the cats owned by the fishermen were killing all the 

 Leach's Petrels on the island, by catching them on their nests and 

 bringing the old birds to the door of the cabin to eat, and how the 

 ground before the cabin was black with the carcasses of the Petrels. 

 I believed then that the dog on the island was digging up the Pet- 

 rels also, from the destroyed burrows. We could not find au occu- 

 pied nest at that time, though in the height of the breeding season. 

 This year the lady on the island said that there were no Petrels on 

 the island that she knew of, and that she guessed that her cats had 

 caught them all. On Seal Island there was a considerable colony 

 of Petrels this year, and we went to see them, followed by one of the 

 two dogs on the island. We could see the burrows and also the 

 same dug and broken burrows as seen on Wooden Ball last year. 

 While we were looking the dog began to dig, and before we realized 

 what he was about he had the sitting bird and ate her alive, all but 

 her wings and some feathers. We drove him away and he promptly 

 started to dig again, but my companion was quick enough to take 

 from him the second Petrel before he had injured it. While we 

 were looking at the bird, the dog returned and pulled the young 

 bird from the burrow with his paw and with a few gulps swallowed 

 it, feathers and all. We could not stay long on the island, and as 

 we left I could see the dog still among the Petrel's burrows digging 

 after more. With the hand of man stayed by restrictive laws, and 

 the Petrels a supposedly protected colony, it seemed as though some- 

 thing should be done to stay the destruction wrought by the cats 

 and dogs on these islands. I found the Gulls on No Man's Land 

 in a prosperous condition, and also the Terns on Matinicus Rock, 

 in marked contrast to the Petrel on the aforementioned islands. 

 I imagine that you are helpless as far as law goes in this case, and I 

 know that the Petrels are in poor standing with the fishermen, 

 because of their noise at night and their smell, but still hope that 

 something might be done with the fishermen whereby their dogs, at 

 least, might be kept from destroying the nest and birds when away 

 from the cabins. — Wilbur Smithy South A T orwalk, Conn. 



