Sept. 1887.] 



AISTD OOLOGIST. 



151 



therus vermivorus) on the Sth of June, with my 

 heels and ankles badly blistered from an ill-fit- 

 ting pair of boots, I thought (to put in the 

 time, as I did not care to come into town limp- 

 ing like a professional tramp before dark) that 

 I would hunt over a hill-side, where on several 

 previous occasions I had searched, as I thought 

 thoroughl}^, witliout success. The Worm-eaters 

 and Black and White Creepers were singing 

 there almost constantly, but the entire under- 

 growth was a thicket of our laurel (Kalmia 

 latifnUn), averaging about five feet high, a 

 very common evergreen along our Brandywine 

 hills, especially where rocky and shaded, 

 making it hard work to find anything. At the 

 foot of a small oak near the top of the hill 1 

 found a beautiful uest of the Black and White 

 Creeper containing three eggs, which I left for 

 a larger set. Two or three days later I re- 

 turned and found the female on the nest. She 

 allowed me to get almost near enough to put 

 my hand on her, then suddenly slid out, and 

 after getting a few feet away began feigning 

 lameness. If I had watched her piteous at- 

 tempts to di-aw me away much longer I am 

 afraid she would have succeeded. The nest 

 was partly concealed with dead limbs and roots 

 at the foot of a small oak tree. Its general 

 appearance was the same as the others but 

 more compact. It was woven in basket-shape 

 with an inner bark which resembled that of the 

 wild grape vine, and lined with horse-hair. 

 The five eggs are creamy white, sprinkled over 

 their entire surface with light brown, and form- 

 ing a wreath around the larger end, of a dark 

 brown with a few liglit purplish spots. They 

 measure .69x.52, .69x.53, .69x.53, .71 x .54. 

 .71 X .54. 



Notes on Some Birds of Grand 

 Manan. 



EDITED BY F. H. CARPENTER. 



The members of the Bristol Ornithological 

 Club, who visited Grand Manau, the past 

 spring, have prepared their notes for such pub- 

 lication as may be considered fitting. It was 

 the original intention to present a general trea- 

 tise of the ornithology of that island, but as 

 that subject is so well known, the island having 

 been frequently visited bj^ naturalists, and as 

 the time spent was limited, attention was given 

 but to certain species, upon which the different 

 members of the committee will pi-eseut such 

 notes as came under their observation. Al- 



though this arrangement will not admit of any 

 form or classification, yet it will present an ex- 

 treme originality, which in this instance has 

 been considered preferable. 



Raven, Cormis corax sinnatus. But a few 

 pairs breed and these found mostly about the 

 rocky clitts of North Head and the western 

 coast, preferring the weird and i-emote regions. 

 We were too late for their eggs but saw evi- 

 dence of their nesting in a niche west of Whale 

 Cove. On Wood's Island we were also pointed 

 out a nesting site on an abrupt overhanging 

 cliff which Mr. Cheney had taken a set from. 



Crow, Corvus aracricanus. AVe found this 

 species fairly common for so limited an area, 

 and not so confined to secluded districts as the 

 preceding. Like their congeners of Massachu- 

 setts they seemed to prefer sharing this life's 

 goods with the farmer from whom they do not 

 hesitate to purloin. Two nests examined on 

 the island ot Nantucket were placed within a 

 few yards of each other in low firs, about 

 eight to ten feet up. One of these nests showed 

 signs of previous visitors from the yolks and 

 shells scattered promisucously on the ground 

 beneath. In composition they showed no vari- 

 ation from those of which I had "barked*' forty 

 foot oaks earlier in the season. 



American Eider, Somateria dresseri. The 

 "Sea Ducks" are fast diminishing on and about 

 Grand Manan. They are now found in flocks 

 of from a dozen to thirty and have become so 

 wary from constant persecution, that we found 

 it exceedingly difficult to approach within gun- 

 shot of a bunch. The blame for this decrease 

 may be bestowed upon the Quoddy Indians, 

 (The last remnant of the once powerful tribe 

 of Passamaquoddj's) who stop on the lower 

 outlying islands during the spring and keep up 

 a fusillade on both these and the Gulls. The 

 fact that the celebrated down brings a good 

 market price makes the demand so great for 

 the Eider that driven from one shore to another 

 by their relentless hunters they take to land 

 very sparingly to oviposite and the nests be- 

 come scarcer each year. The more enlightened 

 people of Grand Manan have gradually come to 

 a sense of duty over this slaughter, but as yet 

 no definite steps have been taken to suppress it. 

 The culprits are out of reach of the law on the 

 uninhabited islands where they hold full swaj', 

 and like the colonies of Cormorants and Wild 

 Geese which once swarmed the island, the Eider 

 Duck will soon become a thing of the past. 

 The feathers are worked up into fantastic 

 shapes for head gear and other ornamental 

 purposes and when a higher temperature 



