I02 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 49. 



numbers and are less conspicuous by reason of their compact 

 build and blended colors. 



Horned Grebes [Cohiiibiis anritus), abound. As a rule 

 they frequent the shallows, where escape by diving is not al- 

 ways convenient; but, unlike their congeners, they take to 

 wing with great readiness. At times they will fly back and 

 forth upon the merest whim, or for exercise. 



The presence of a school of smelt or herring will attract 

 all the Grebes at once. On this all-day trip the writer drev^j 

 near a busy company of several hundred birds, and when they 

 took flight the pattering of tiny feet and the dipping wing- 

 tips was like the fall of a small cloud-burst upon the water. 



Gulls, at high-tide, are like street car conductors off duty. 

 There is nothing for them to do but to haunt unavailingly the 

 scenes of their former activit}', or to gather in languid compa- 

 nies and discuss the prospects of the next shift. At such 

 times they are glad to find log-booms or floats to rest upon; 

 but in the absence of these ( as at present in Drayton Harbor) 

 they sit upon the water or drift about on pieces of mill waste, 

 or else desert the harbor altogether. 



Bonaparte Gulls ( I Mrus Philadelphia ), which have swarmed 

 to the number of thousands for six weeks past, are now repre- 

 sented by a fev« stragglers, wounded birds and their faithful 

 mates; while Ring-billed Gulls (Lams delaicareusis') have be- 

 come common, and California Gulls {Larus califomiciis) are 

 slowly increasing in numbers. 



The Terns, Arctic (?) and Common {Sterna paradiscra and 

 hinindo) have disappeared, and after them has apparently 

 followed their arch-persecutor, the Parasitic Jaeger {Stercora- 

 rius parasiticus), a specimen of which I shot from "the spit" 

 on September 30th. 



In contrast with all this was the trip into the interior, 

 made in the afternoon. The gray cloud-cap still hung over 

 everything, but it included within its dome distant Baker, 

 whose uplifting presence made one feel that his world was 

 good enough, however circumscribed. 



Mile after mile was done off^ over gravel pikes, past stump- 

 scarred clearings, tiny orchards and deserted townsites, 

 through somber forests of fir and hemlock, and through wil- 

 dernesses of second growth, alders, willows and evergreens. 



