AMONG THE WaTER FowLt 
We lingered awhile, spell-bound at the vision, 
then we started out with the keeper to see the 
bird-wonders at closer range. Black Guillemots 
bred abundantly in the crevices under the loose 
rocks that were piled up on the shores by the fury 
of the gales. The breeding-season was over, but 
some still sunned themselves on the rocks, or were 
swimming or diving off-shore. Crossing the sand- 
bar, where Yellowlegs, Turnstones, and Sandpipers 
fed, we inspected some of the abounding Petrels’ 
burrows, and then turned our attention to the great 
colony of the island, that of the Herring “Gulls 
The usual custom of ‘this species tis» tonsclece ton 
make a hollow in the ground, and build around it 
a nest of grass, feathers, and seaweed; but some- 
times—on account of persecution, it is probable — 
they take to the trees) So it was here, to-a Jarec 
extent. Nearly all the nests were in the woods. 
Some of them were placed at the foot of trees, or 
under spreading spruce saplings, but most of them 
were built in the tops of the spruces which grew 
usually only about twenty or twenty-five feet in 
height. When the nests were on the ground they 
were generally rather slight affairs, but on the trees 
they were very bulky platforms. The Gulls had 
brought load after load of grass and seaweed, till 
the mass was often large and firm enough to hold 
aman.” At any rate some of them held: meawery 
comfortably while I gazed around over the floor-like 
top of the forest, and watched the Gulls wheeling 
about in the air. I could almost imagine how it 
felt to be a young Gull. Some of the nests were 
built in the upper crotch of the trees, others on 
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