lo .Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



the face of the otherwise unruffled water, makes for the spot and 

 dips his bill into the living mass as he shoots by, not touching the 

 water with body or feet. The minnows disappear like a flash 

 (too late, however, for the safety of at least one of their number), 

 but in a few moments foolishly return to the top and expose 

 themselves to another attack from the enemy. The gulls un- 

 doubtedly indulge in other sea food for I noticed one bird gulp- 

 ing down a small crab or mussel that he had secured on the bank 

 of a creek. 



Late in the afternoon of our first day, when we had finished a 

 visit to the Life Saving Station, a thunder storm of no mean pro- 

 portions swept down on the island and its stilted buildings from 

 the west. We stood on the back piazza of the club house and 

 looked out across the salt meadows to the ocean while the black 

 clouds boiled overhead and gradually crept down to meet the 

 horizon in the east. The tide, seeming possessed of a determi- 

 nation not to be outdone by the fury of the heavenly powers, sent 

 its dark currents surging through the channels and swirling about 

 the piles until the marshes were filled with an ever-rising flood 

 which threatened, as we realized presently, to destroy the homes 

 of gulls and clapper rails. Of the latter birds we observed as 

 many as eight or ten in various parts of the meadows. Ordi- 

 narily the " marsh hens " are heard and not seen, but now the 

 water was almost level with the grass tops, and the rails were 

 forced into the open against their wishes. Some were standing 

 about on sedge and drift material, preening themselves and cack- 

 ling, while others actually swam across open pools in search of 

 better resting places. If the rails were uncomfortable the gulls 

 were actually distressed, for we could see them hovering above 

 their inundated domiciles and hear their notes of complaint. 

 Throughout this period black skimmers coursed back and forth 

 over the flooded meadows, skimming at frequent intervals in the 

 open stretches, — demonstrating to us their claim to the name of 

 " flood gull " among the natives of the region. 



At the Life Saving Station before the rain in the early after- 



