lOO 'DvTCU.KK, Protection of Gulls and Ter7is. \^^^ 



•' LJan. 



latter islands and a lesser number on the first mentioned. Spec- 

 ial protection could not be given these four gull colonies, for the 

 same reason that prevented protection of the terns in Penobscot 

 Bay. If a satisfactory law is passed by the next legislature it 

 may be possible during the coming breeding season to do some 

 good by thoroughly posting these islands with warning notices. 



A few Double-crested Cormorants {Fhalacrocorax dilophiis) were 

 seen on Black Horse Ledge, but their nests could not be found. 

 This ledge is well out to sea and is almost impossible to land upon 

 except during the calmest weather. 



The largest colony of Herring Gulls (Z. a. smithsonianus) in the 

 State of Maine is located on the island of No-mans-land. This 

 island has an area of about twelve acres and is situated about a 

 mile from Matinicus Island, some seventeen miles south of Rock- 

 land. It is, like all the islands on the Maine coast, very rocky, 

 with practically no beach, and is consequently difficult to land upon. 

 It is about half covered with spruce and fir trees of moderate size 

 and is well carpeted with red-top grass, clover and weeds. It is 

 an ideal home for gulls and about twenty-five hundred to three 

 thousand pairs breed there. The writer visited this island July i8 

 and 20, spending some hours there on each day. The birds have 

 been faithfully and thoroughly protected by the owner of the island, 

 Capt. Mark Young. Your Committee have no doubt but that the 

 increase of this gull colony was entirely normal during the year 

 igoo. The island is so far from the mainland that it is not visited 

 by the natives or by summer tourists. The entire population of 

 the adjoining Matinicus Island numbers only about two hundred 

 and fifty people, all of whom are either friends or relatives of the 

 warden, consequently they respect the wish of Capt. Young to carry 

 out the instructions of the American Ornithologists' Union Com- 

 mittee that not an egg should be taken for any purpose, and that 

 not a bird should be killed. The writer visited No-mans-land 

 first on July 18, and on approaching the shore in a dory was saluted 

 by the cries of thousands of anxious gulls. It was a wonderful 

 sight to see these great white birds in such clouds all over the 

 island. The noise was deafening but at the same time was inspir- 

 ing. Such a sight once seen can never be forgotten and it is worth 

 a long journey to view. There is probably no place on the Atlan- 



