Chapin: Wilson's Petrel in New York Harbor 59 



outside Crooke's Point the first was encountered, and from that 

 time till sunset they were scarcely ever out of sight. Acting on 

 the advice of Mr. Nichols, I had provided myself with a piece 

 of salt pork, which I cut up into small bits and threw over- 

 board. My trouble was well repaid, and the graceful movements 

 of the petrels as they fluttered down, pattered along the water, 

 and seized the coveted morsels, afforded great pleasure. Several 

 specimens were secured, which illustrated a number of interest- 

 ing points. The throats of all, even those that had not partaken 

 of my salt pork, were full of greasy liquid, evidently food; and 

 they could expand their lower jaws somewhat as a pelican does. 

 Their wing quills, too, were being molted. Though it was of 

 course difficult to estimate the number of birds seen, I should sup- 

 pose there were at least one hundred and twenty-five. 



On August 11, Mr. R. C. Murphy followed my example, and 

 reported the petrels as still very numerous off Great Kills, though 

 I believe he had to go further out than I. From the twelfth to 

 the twenty-fourth no more were seen, though Mr. Murphy and I 

 made a trip to Great Kills especially on their account. On the 

 twenty-fourth, however, they were very plentiful off the south 

 shore of Staten Island, from New Creek to Princes Bay. A day 

 later they disappeared, except for some seen on September 3. and 

 5 in the Upper Bay. 



As a rule the petrels did not ascend the Upper Bay further than 

 Governor's Island, though they were once observed only a few 

 hundred yards out from the Staten Island ferry slip at the 

 Battery. On August 6, in the Lower Bay, several were seen 

 within a hundred yards of the shore at Oakwood, and on the 

 twenty-fourth, though farther out, they might easily be discerned 

 from the beach at New Dorp. 



It may be well to insert a table, showing the approximate 

 numbers observed during the summer of 1907. The record for 

 the Upper Bay is quite complete, for I was able to note the 

 presence or absence of petrels on almost every week-day through- 

 out the season. 



