Vol. XVIII 



1901 



J DuTCHER, Protection of Gulls and Terns. Q c 



twelve dollars per dozen. It requires an average of four large 

 gulls to make a dozen pieces, which allows for waste caused by 

 dirt, blood and badly shot birds. Two wings are counted as one 

 piece, the back another, and a strip on each side of the breast 

 bone, from the neck to the under tail-coverts, as two more ; a per- 

 fectly clean bird thus making four commercial ' pieces ' in the mil- 

 linery trade. The Indian also stated the best time to secure them 

 was while the old birds were on the nesting ground, as they were 

 then in finer plumage, and it was easier to get them. They were 

 secured in various ways, some by shooting, although this was the 

 least desirable, as it necessitated washing the skin to cleanse it 

 from blood and dirt ; further, when shooting many birds fell in the 

 water, which was undesirable as it reduced the value of the skin. 

 The favorite way was to snare the birds on or near the nests, and also 

 to set a trawl line with hooks baited with fish. This line was set 

 on the land in a clean grassy place, so the birds when caught were 

 not soiled. A live decoy gull was sometimes secured to the top 

 of a small spruce on an island where the birds were in the habit 

 of congregating and many were secured by shooting those that 

 came to the decoy. This Indian was a mason by trade, but he 

 stated that he could make so much more money shooting gulls, 

 and that it was so much pleasanter work, that he abandoned his 

 trade to become a gull hunter. He was asked whether the Indi- 

 ans would continue to shoot gulls this season and he replied that 

 there did not seem to be such an active demand for them now, 

 and that there had been a law passed that prevented their being 

 taken on the breeding grounds. He probably mistook the work 

 done by your Committee for a new law. The Indians were in the 

 habit of going in parties of half a dozen or less and campmg on 

 or near the breeding grounds while in pursuit of the gulls, locating 

 at all the different places where the gulls nested. 



Your Committee found twelve colonies of Herring Gulls, and all 

 were protected. The most eastern one was on Old Man Island, 

 at the entrance to Machias Bay. This island is a precipitous mass 

 of rock, rising from the ocean without the slightest semblance of 

 a beach, and is covered with a growth of small spruce trees. 

 About two hundred and fifty pairs of gulls nested there and were 

 cared for by Capt. Ackley. The writer tried to get on the island 



