VACATION EXPEDITIONS 219 



nies and other wild, interesting localities. The va- 

 rious protected colonies along the Atlantic coast are 

 very fascinating. To visit them, one should secure 

 permission from the National Association of Audu- 

 bon Societies, and go with the wardens, who know 

 how much intrusion the birds can stand. If many 

 strangers should undertake to visit them freely, the 

 eggs would be spoiled, and it might become neces- 

 sary to keep everyone off. 



On the coast of Maine about the middle of June 

 finds all the birds with eggs, and middle July is a 

 good time to see the young. Late in that month 

 some are awing. On the southern coast the sea-birds 

 nest remarkably late, and not all the eggs are laid 

 till the middle of June. Visits to Florida inland 

 rookeries are best made from Agril to early May. 

 The shore-bird migration on the southern coast in 

 April and May is of great interest. 



A few trips at other times of the year may be sug- 

 gested. Visits in mid-summer to the haunts of the 

 off-shore ocean wanderers are fascinating, as off Chat- 

 ham, Massachusetts, or Cape Sable Island, Nova 

 Scotia. These and other outlying points on the 

 coast are as good places as there are on the north 

 Atlantic coast to find shore-birds. The latter part 

 of August is perhaps the likeliest time, but the grow- 

 ing scarcity of these species is a disappointing and 

 lamentable fact. Persecution has led many of them 

 to migrate past us out to sea. The spring migra- 

 tion, on the southern coast, when the birds, in full 



