92 General Notes. [^"k 



I might add that on June 29, 1909, on the waters of Long Lake men- 

 tioned above, I succeeded in securing after half a day's pursuit a juvenile 

 Loon {Gavia imber). This bird weighed three and one-half poimds and 

 measured twenty-one inches in length. I judged the specimen to be about 

 one-third grown, since on old one weighs from eight to ten or eleven pounds 

 on the average. A common perch six inches long w'as taken from the 

 throat. 



On July 1, a boy who had been sailing on the lake came upon another 

 young loon and secured it with his hands. It weighed one quarter of a 

 pound and was about seven inches in length. I judged this one to have 

 been hatched not over two days. The odd thing about these two captures 

 is that the growth of the birds was so far advanced in one and so little in 

 the other. 



I mounted both of these specimens and they are now in my private 

 collection. On July 4 I went out on the lake again and came upon another 

 very young loon, which I let go, in company with the two adults. — 

 McCoRMiCK Jewett, New Haven, Conn. 



Destruction of Young Water Birds by a Storm. — On August 28, and for 

 some days following that tlate, a severe storm swept the Pacific coast of 

 Washington. At that time of the year the nestlings on the bird islands 

 were just about ready to fly. Some had already gone to the water, and 

 those that were stilKon the rocks were blown into the pounding surf by 

 the raging wind. When the storm abated the coast was strewn with 

 dead birds. In walking a quarter of a mile I picked up 58 dead birds and 

 half that number of crippled and half drowned ones. The Gulls suffered 

 least for they had taken to the water some weeks before and were able to 

 reach places of safety. Many Cormorants perished, nearly all of the 

 Puffins, and all the California Murres. A half a hundred thousand birds 

 must have perished. — Albert B. Reagan, Supervising Warden of the 

 Olympic Bird Reserves. 



The Tagging of Nesting Birds. — The plan introduced by Dr. Leon J. 

 Cole of New Haven, Conn., for the marking of birds, both old and young, 

 should prove in time of mvich value by its help in solv'ng some of the prob- 

 lems connected with their migratory movements, and for that reason we 

 may wish it a success. 



My experience, however, in the tagging of young Martins, as I regret to 

 say, has not proved altogether successful. For example, a brood tagged 

 July 26 was found to have left the chamber safely, but not so the remain- 

 ing members of another brood similarly marked two days later. On 

 August 12 the remains of this bird were found just outside the chamber 

 on the martin-house platform, some of the nesting material it seems having 

 become attached to the aluminum band on the bird's right leg, holding it 

 fast and thus causing it to perish after being abandoned to its fate by the 



