.234 General Notes. [^^^i 



leaving it — I observed gulls with a forked tail. Their line of flight was 

 always in the direction of the islands — in the evening going to and in the 

 morning going away from them. Morning and evening for three days I 

 saw them. 



I sat on deck with gun in hand for parts of the three days trying 

 to procure a specimen of these birds. Twice they came near enough to 

 tempt me to risk a shot; but in both instances the distance was too great 

 for success. One of the birds shot at dropped its feet and shook its 

 feathers as if it were hit. 



They were so well marked that I do not think I could have been mistaken 

 in my identification — a forked-tail, a black head, the entire under part of 

 the body white, the back of a darker color I could not determine the shade, 

 and with streaks of black and white on the wings. 



I desire to direct attention to another peculiarity in which these gulls 

 differed from the square-tailed gulls. They are not littoral in their habits, 

 but go to sea seeking their food like the gannets. In an experience of 

 fifteen years at sea I have rarely seen the square-tailed gulls far from land. 

 Besides the forked-tailed were quite shy, as is shown in my efforts to pro- 

 cure a specimen. It is the habit of the others to hover about vessels quite 

 near. — Thomas H. Streets, Medical Director, U. S. Navy, Retired, 

 Philaddphia, Pa. 



Cory's Shearwater in abundance off Long Island. — On October 2, 

 1911, I shot two Shearwaters off the coast of East Hampton, Long Island. 

 I took them to be Cory's Shearwater {Puffinus borealis) but to make sure 1 

 brought them to Mr. W. DeW. Miller, Assistant Curator of Ornithology at 

 the American Museum of Natural History who confii-med my identification. 

 There were any number of them, together with some Greater Shearwaters 

 {Puffinus gravis). The difference between the two species was apparent 

 at quite a distance, the commoner bird appearing darker. — William Tod 

 Helmuth, Jr., New York City. 



Black Ducks which became very tame. — Four Black Ducks {Anas 

 rubripcs) have been spending the winter in one of the coves at Had- 

 lyme, Conn. The cove has been frozen over with ice from 18 to 24 

 inches thick. At the north shore of the cove are two spring holes which are 

 near the main road in the town and every day these ducks have been seen 

 by a great many people. Late in the afternoon of Feb. 15 I carried to the 

 spot about a peck of cracked corn and spread around on the ice and placed 

 some in the spring holes, the next morning some crows came and started 

 to eat the corn, but the ducks drove them away, they were too much for 

 the crows. 



Soon after the grain was placed there, two more ducks ariived, the 

 second day two, the third day fifteen, and finally thirty arrived to feed, 

 they are very tame allowing one to approach very near before taking flight. 



This shows how tame our wildest birds will become, if not shot at or 

 molested. — Arthur W. Brockway, Hadlyme, Conn. 



