I C8 DuTCHER, Report of Committee on Bird Protection. ft'I^ 



granite ledge covered with vegetable loam, and the decaying 

 remains of a spruce forest. At half tide, or even higher, they are 

 connected by a bar. On the western one possibly two pairs of 

 gulls were breeding, but the nests or young were not found. On 

 the eastern one a good sized colony of gull^ was breeding, prob- 

 ably a thousand or more. The southern seaward side of this 

 island presents a perpendicular wall of granite nearly a hundred 

 feet in height, and many gulls breed in perfect security upon its 

 rifts and shelves. Many young were seen here nearly full grown^ 

 hiding upon the gray rocks where their colors were in harmony 

 with their surroundings. On the top of the island, among the 

 fallen logs and elsewhere, many nests were found ; quite a number 

 still contained eggs and some had clearly been robbed. I believe 

 that more eggs had been taken here than at any other gull colony 

 in Maine. Yet many young were also found, showing that the 

 egging had been sporadic. The birds were, on the whole, not 

 seriously interfered with and w^ere tame. I also discovered that 

 some Petrels breed here. 



''It is a fact of interest that as I walked over the top of the 

 western island a gull dashed many times at me, coming within 

 five or six feet of my head. Terns frequently do this but gulls 

 very seldom. 



" Libby Island Light was next visited. We were directed to 

 North Libby Island where the terns breed. This is an excellent 

 island for their needs and probably looo to 1500 terns of both 

 species are here. Mr. French who kept Libby Island light for 

 eleven years previous to 1895, and visited the place on this date, 

 the first time since leaving there, assured me that the increase 

 since that time is at least 75 per cent. The colony occupies the 

 entire eastern end of the island, which is a quarter of a mile wide, 

 while the length of their area is somewhat less. Most of the 

 young were fully fledged and sat upon the rocks of the shore, 

 flying as we approached ; a few small young and a few eggs were 

 also seen. 



"' From here we went to Cross Island, where I remained with 

 Capt. Small at the Life-saving station. He very kindly gave me 

 much aid in securing a boat for Machias Seal Island. 



"As the next morning (August 2) afforded a 'good chance' to 



