[11] SEA BIRDS AS BAIT FOR CATCHING CODFISH. 321 



March 11, 1879, in latitude 45° 9', longitude 54° 58', I shot four noddies, 

 and the following entry is made in my journal under date of March 12 : 

 " There have been great numbers of noddies to-day. I shot two ; but 

 when the vessel swung into the trough of the sea I could not shoot any 

 more." 



'■'•March 14. Have seen large numbers of noddies this trip, and almost 

 every day siuce we have been here some of the burgomaster gulls — a 

 large white species. I shot several of the noddies to-day, but the gulls 

 are shy, and it is difficult to approach them near enough to obtain a 

 shot." 



1 will add that the weather during the above-mentioned time was ex- 

 tremely cold. On April 13 of the same year I made the following note: 

 " I have not seen a noddy this trip." We had then been at sea about 

 one week. On April 18, 1879, we were on Green Bank, when the fol- 

 lowing entry was made: " I saw a noddy to-day for the first time this 

 trip." 



June 5, 1879. Eastern part of Banquereau. " I have noticed a noddy 

 now and then for the last three days, but have not seen any before for 

 some time." 



Under date of July 29, 1879, the following entry is made : " I have 

 seen no noddies this trip."* 



The plumage of this species varies in color ; that of some of the birds 

 is of a uniform smoky gray, and of others white, with black wings, and 

 some of the other feathers bluish. 



The fulmars are probably more abundant on the Grand Bauk than on 

 any other of the fishing-grounds commonly resorted to by American 

 vessels, with the exception, perhaps, of the halibut grounds in Davis 

 Straits, or the Flemish Cap to the eastward of Grand Bank, which are 

 not visited by many fishing schooners. 



The marbleheader is quite as greedy as the hagdou, and quite as bold 

 when in pursuit of food ; but unlike the latter, which is always quarrel- 

 some and noisy, the fulmar confines itself to a sort of chuckling sound, 

 somewhat resembling a low grunt. It will swallow a piece of cod liver 

 with even as great voracity as the hag, but it rarely, if ever, seems 

 to exercise the cunning or caution of the latter in trying to avoid 

 the hook, and, as a consequence, it is more easily captured. It is caught 

 in the same manner as the hag, but owing to its comimratively small 

 numbers on the fishing-grounds, the fishermen do not depend upon it 

 so much as a source of bait supply as upon Puffinus major, since one 

 would be likely to catch twenty, or perhaps many more, of the latter, 

 to one noddy. When caught on a line and hauled into a boat it fre- 

 quently emits quantities of oily matter from its nostrils, and often dis- 

 gorges its food. This peculiarity of the species which is not common 



* It raay be offered as au explanation here that I was collecting these birds for 

 scientific purposes, and, therefore, preferred to shoot them instead of catching them 

 on a line. 



S. Mis. 46 21 



