200 General Notes. [ April 



length, with one exception, from 2.50 to 2.60 inches, and in breadth from 

 1.70 to 1.80. In color thej' were almost exactly like some eggs of the 

 Bittern that I had just taken, with a little more of an olive tinge. None 

 of the books give this species as nesting in eastern North America, so 

 perhaps this is the first known instance. As in the case of the Lesser 

 Scaup, it would appear to be a late lireeder. Only a few rods away, on 

 another 'nubble,' were nests and eggs of a belated Dusky Duck, and of a 

 habitually late-breeding Red-breasted Merganser. I also found a nest of 

 the Blue-winged Teal on June 16, the voung alive in the shell. 



The Bittern, the Horned Grebe and the Rusty Grackle breed abundantly 

 in the swamps aud ponds near East Pomt. Of the first I found one nest 

 with six eggs, the books giving five as the maximum. At the time of our 

 arrival the young Rusty Crackles had just left the nests. These are very 

 similar to nests of the Robin, and are built low down in the spruces, 

 usually near the ends of thick boughs. I found this species only near East 

 Point, in clumps of spruces on wet ground by the ponds. Piping and 

 Ring-necked Plover were breeding abundantly on the long sand-bar be- 

 tween Grand Entry and Grindstone, but were almost wholly absent at 

 East Point. 



The stay on Bird Rock was fascinating bevond compare, amid the 

 whirring multitudes of sea-birds. One morning we rowed over to and 

 climbed North Bird, inspecting the Gannet colony on top. For the sake 

 of the cause of bird-protection, I will here say that I was witness to the 

 landing of a party of fishermen on Great Bird, after they had taken every- 

 thing on North Bird that they could reach or shoot, who fired raking 

 shots again and again into the masses of birds upon their nests, mowing 

 them down like grass, to leave them there dead or dying, — a most horri- 

 ble and pathetic sight. Will not our committee on bird-protection, the 

 Audubon Society, and indi\'idual friends of the birds, use their influence 

 to induce the Canadian authorities to forbid or restrict the looting of the 

 Bird Rocks, and make the keeper of the light a warden.' 



In all I noted 65 species on the islands, 52 of these, at least, undoubtedly 

 breeding. Curiously, staying mostly about East Point, I failed to find a 

 number of the small land-birds that others have reported, but, as I had 

 hoped, this was counterbalanced by the water-birds. Comparing my 

 list with those of Corj', Brewster, Bishop, and Young, I have three species 

 not recorded by them: — Barn Swallow, Mourning Warbler, and Glaucous 

 Gull. The first of these is now common, and perhaps has come in there 

 quite recently. 



Five more species seem to be unrecorded in the breeding-season 

 (June), namely, Bonaparte's Gull, Eider, Lesser Yellow-legs, Saw-whet 

 Owl, and Tree Swallow. Of these last only the Saw-whet was proved 

 to breed, by my finding a dead fledgling in a Flicker's hole. Fishermen 

 declared that the Bonaparte's Gull breeds, but all I saw were in immature 

 plumage. — Herbert K. Job, Kent, Conn. 



