AMONG THE WATER-FOWL 



fall flight, like the Golden Plover, most of the 

 Phalaropes, after leaving Nova Scotia, pass so far off 

 the coast that we seldom encounter the main body 

 of the migration. 



The only species described in this chapter with 

 whose breeding habits I am, or am likely to be, 

 familiar, is Leach's Petrel. The nesting of most 

 Shearwaters is practically unknown to science, and 

 upon that of the Jaegers, except in northern 

 Europe, only arctic explorers can enlighten us. 

 But many of the islands off Maine and Nova 

 Scotia have been adopted by multitudes of Leach's 

 Petrel as their summer home. At different times, 

 from Matinicus to the Magdalen Islands, I have 

 examined their rat-like burrows. Seal Island, off 

 southern Nova Scotia, is a wonderful Petrel-resort. 

 There I have noticed a variation on their usual 

 habit, in that they enter the spruce woods, and dig 

 their burrows under the roots of the trees. It is 

 about the last place in the world that one would 

 naturally search for a bird that loves a free, wander- 

 ing life over the billows, a damp, dark hole under- 

 ground, and in the midst of a forest. But these 

 extremes in habits make bird-study all the more 

 fascinating. 



A more typical breeding-place is some such spot 

 as another Seal Island, this one off the coast of 

 Maine. I was, with a friend, at Matinicus Island. 

 Learning of this remarkable resort of the Petrels, 

 only seven miles away, we engaged a schooner to 

 carry us there, leave us for the day, and take us off 



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