THE OOLOGIST 



11 



three slightly incubated eggs, and a 

 nest with two fresh eg^s of the same 

 species. 



In 1894, at this same island I bad 

 found a remodeled Gull's nest, con- 

 taining one egg of the original owner 

 and three Eider's eggs with the old 

 Duck in possession. As the fishermen 

 constantly rob these birds of their eggs, 

 it is not uncommon to take sets of two 

 or three eggs which are probably the 

 second or even third set laid by the 

 birds. I am informed that early in the 

 season Eider's nests usually contain 

 four to seven eggs. 



Leaving this island, we proceeded to 

 Black Ledge, about H miles distant, in 

 order to inspect a colony of Black 

 (xuilleraots which nested there , These 

 birds deposit their eggs in crevices of 

 or under the rocks, no attempt at nest 

 building being made By a careful 

 search we found eight sets of two eggs 

 each, and in nearly every case one of 

 the parent birds was occupying the 

 nest. These made no resistance to be- 

 ing caught and examined. On nearly 

 all of them a spot bare of feathers was 

 noticed on each side of the breast. I 

 could not determine whether the birds 

 had removed the feathers from these 

 spots so as to allow the eggs to fit nice- 

 ly into the cavities thus left, or wheth- 

 er the. constant pressure of the eggs 

 while the bird was incubating might 

 have forced the feathers aside to leave 

 those featherless spots. 



The eggs are the handsomest which 

 are laid by any of our Maine birds, 

 being of a bluish-white or in some cases 

 of a roseate bulfy white ground coloi', 

 and being spotted and blotched with 

 various markings of brown, brownish- 

 red, or black. The eggs are much 

 sought for by collectors who desire a 

 series for their cabinets, and any col- 

 lection is beautified by a set of these 

 handsome eggs. 



We now departed for Heron Island 

 where the Great Blue Herons were I'e- 



ported to nest, but on landing a 

 thorough search of various trees reveal 

 ed no traces of the long-legged birds. 

 However, we found numerous Gulls 

 nests in the various trees; they had de- 

 parted from their usual habit of nesting 

 on the ground, and had placed their 

 nests at a considerable elevation in the 

 trees I suspect they had been driven 

 to do this by continued I'obberies of 

 such nests as were placed on the 

 ground. They were careful to select 

 trees whose trunks were bristling with 

 numerous small, dead limbs which 

 were too small to support a person, 

 and so would necessarily have to be all 

 broken off by a person climbing the 

 tree. It would take a very ardent ool- 

 ogist to secure any of these nests. 



As it vvas now noon, we enjoyed our 

 lunch in the shade of the trees, and 

 when through we set sail for Saddle- 

 back Ledge. On landing there I began 

 to search for a Red-breasted Mergan- 

 ser's nest, as the year previous I had 

 taken a set of ten eggs of the above on 

 this island. I soon found the nest, but 

 it was empty, and further on I found 

 two empty nests of the American Eider. 



While walking about the island look- 

 ing tor a few nice sets of Common 

 Tern, I saw in front of me what I took 

 to be a rolled up bunch of feathers. I 

 wondered how the bunch came to be 

 where it was, and on carelessly kicking 

 it with my foot I caught a glimpse of 

 something round within. Examining 

 it closer I found it to contain four 

 Eiders eggs. I was much surprised to 

 find a nest of this species in such an 

 open place, ic being in plain view, but 

 when it was first seen I never thought 

 of such a thing as its being a nest. 



We had noticed some Eiders leave 

 the island on our approach, so without 

 doubt the owner of this nest had cov- 

 ered the eggs well with the nest down, 

 both to keep the eggs warm and to 

 prevent our discovering them. If it 

 had not accidently been in my path, I 



