172 Townsend, Birds of Cape Breton Island. [\pril 



NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF CAPE BRETON ISLAND. 1 



BY CHARLES W. TOWNSEND, M. D. 



The following notes on the birds of Cape Breton were made 

 during a visit to that island between the 17th of August and the 

 5th of September, 1905. This region has already been visited in 

 summer and its birds noted by Dr. J. Dwight, Jr., 2 F. H. Allen, 3 

 and the late Frank Bolles. 4 Dr. Dwight and Mr. Allen confined 

 their observations to the Bras d'Or region. 



My own trip was by water to the island and through the Bras d'Or 

 Lakes, and on foot from South Gut near Baddeck, "down north" 

 as far as Neil's Harbor; also by boat from Ingonish to Sydney, 

 and up the Myra River, with a drive through the eastern part of 

 the island. 



Ninety-eight different species of birds were noted; a number of 

 which at this late date were of course migrants. The following 

 twenty-one species may be added to the lists above referred to. 



Cepphus grylle. Black Guillemot. — Common along the 

 shore from Englishtown to Neil's Harbor. 



Larus marinus. Great Black-backed Gull. — A not uncom- 

 mon migrant. 



Larus delawarensis. Ring-billed Gull. — One on the beach 

 at Ingonish. 



Sterna paradisaea. Arctic Tern. — Common everywhere 

 along the shore. At South Bay, Ingonish, out of eight Terns, 

 six appeared to be of this species, two S. hirundo. Dr. Dwight 5 

 corrected his first note of this species as all his specimens proved 

 to be S. hirundo. 



Puffinus gravis. Greater Shearwater. Puffinus fuligi- 

 nosus. — Sooty Shearwater. — Four of the latter and one of the 

 former were seen at sea south of the island, the numbers of the two 

 species being in inverse order to their usual proportion. 



1 Read before the Nuttall Ornithological Club, December 4, 1905. 



2 Auk, Vol. IV, 1887, p. 13. 



3 Auk, Vol. VIII, 1891, p. 164, and Vol. XII, 1895, p. 89. 



4 From Blomidon to Smoky. Boston, 1894. 



5 Auk, Vol. VI, 1889, p. 186. 



