FOLLOWING THE WATER-BIRDS 163 



England and the Middle States shore-birds are pretty 

 scarce, though on Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Long 

 Island there are some to be seen, especially during 

 and just after an easterly storm. 



In August and September it will abundantly repay 

 one to take a trip with a fisherman well off to sea 

 southeast from Chatham, Massachusetts, on Cape 

 Cod, or eastward off Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, 

 to observe the birds which live on the open ocean. 

 It is not necessary to embark on an extended voyage. 

 Just hire a sail-boat and run off shore from five to 

 ten miles. The numbers of birds will depend upon 

 where the schools of bait-fish happen to be, but on 

 many days there will be birds, and frequently hun- 

 dreds of them. There we are more than likely to 

 see plenty of Wilson's petrels, and numbers of greater 

 shearwaters, some of the sooty, and possibly a few 

 Corey's shearwaters. These are all wonderful birds, 

 that breed in the Antarctic regions, and during their 

 winter, which is our summer, wander over our part 

 of the ocean. 



In August the jaegers arrive from the North, and, 

 chasing the terns, make them disgorge their fish, often 

 catching it in mid-air. Of these there are the Poma- 

 rine, parasitic and long-tailed species. About the 

 middle of August the little northern and red 

 phalaropes migrate down our coast out to sea, and 

 may be encountered in flocks, feeding on drift-weed 

 or flying along. Such a trip is perfectly practicable 

 and one of the most rewarding of ornithological ex- 



