DuTCHER on Loiisr Island Birds. 



173 



4. Puffinus borealis. Cory's Shearwater. — Ever since the discovery 

 of this species I have felt sure that it eventually would be added to the 

 list of Long Island birds. When I read in 'The Auk' for January, 18S7, 

 the note by the late Professor Baird, recording the occurrence of Cory's 

 Shearwater in numbers between Point Judith (Rhode Island) and Vine- 

 yard Sound, I was certain that the time was near at hand. It was with 

 great pleasure, therefore, that I received from Messrs. Lucas and Buck, 

 two specimens, a male and female, which, with four others, were shot otT 

 Amagansett, Suffolk Co., about October iS, 1887. 



5. Puffinus auduboni. Audubon's Shearwater. — My son, Basil 

 Hicks Dutcher, while examining the catch of a fishing smack at Amity- 

 ville, Suffolk Co., found a specimen of this species lying on the deck. 

 Capt. Joshua Ketcham, the owner, kindly gave it to him and also stated 

 that the bird "was captured, while alive, in Great South Bay, opposite 

 Bellport, August i, 18S7. It refused food and lived but a few days." On 

 skinning the bird a contused wound was found on the right breast, evi- 

 dently caused by a blow. According to Mr. Giraud, "This is another of 

 those stragglers that occasionally visit the coast of Long Island." * 



6. Fregata aquila. Man-o'-War Bird. — The claim of this bird to be 

 included in the fauna of Long Island has heretofore rested on the speci- 

 men captured by Capt. Brooks, in 1859, o" Faulkner's Island, Long 

 Island Sound. t After an interval of twenty-seven years another straggler 

 from the tropics furnishes an additional record of extra-limital occurrence. 

 In August, 1886, Messrs. Lucas and Buck wrote to me that they had just 

 mounted a specimen of the Frigate Pelican for Mrs. John Lyon Gardiner, 

 which had been shot on Gardiner's Island. Subsequently I ascertained, 

 on inquiry, that the bird was shot August 4, 1886, by Mr. JosiahP. Miller, 

 the keeper of the lighthouse. His account of the capture of the specimen 

 is as follows : "The Man-o'-War Bird which I shot a while ago, was, when 

 I first discovered it, sitting on a piece of old wreck, about fifty rods dis- 

 tant from the lighthouse. I tried to get a shot at it, but it saw me before 

 I was near enougii, and flew off up the beach out of sight. It came back 

 in about an hour and settled in the same place as before. This time I 

 went on the opposite side of the beach and concealed myself in the grass. 

 My daughter went toward the bird, when it flew directly over me, giving a 

 splendid shot. It was alone, and is the only one of the kind that I ever 

 saw in this part of the world. I have kept this light for twenty years." 



7. Anas strepera. Gadwall. — Mr. A. H. Helme, of Miller's Place, 

 allows me to record a Gadwall Duck which was taken April 9, 1879, '-^^ 

 Mount Sinai Harbor, Suffolk Co. It was shot by a gunner who reported 

 having secured a similar Duck a few daj's prior. The last one shot was 

 seen by Mr. Helme and positively identified ; but the first one, although 

 probably a Gadwall, may have been some other species. November 24, 

 1886, a female of this rare species was sent to me by Mr. Andrew Chiches- 



* Birds of Long Island, p. 370. 



t American Naturalist, Vol. IX, p. 470. 



