Vol I. 



BOSTON, OCTOBER, 1885. 



No. 6. 



LEACH'S PETREL. 



About five miles beyond Flat Island, 

 and farthest out to sea of all the 

 islands in this locality, is Green 

 Island, as it is called in the vicinity, 

 or Grass Island, as it is set down on 

 the maps and charts. Comprising 

 about twenty acres, it is surrounded 

 by bluffs of rock, these being, no 

 doubt, the out- 

 croppings of 

 its solid foun- 

 dation. The 

 surface is a 

 beautiful 

 bright green 

 — an oasis in -" 

 this ocean de- 

 sert. The soil 

 is a soft brown 

 vegetable- ^ 

 mould, ap- 

 pearing like 

 bog-turf, and 

 showing that 

 the position of 

 the island was 



once very different — a swamp perhaps 

 in the midst of the sea. A number of 

 islands along the coast of the Province 

 have this appearance, and there are 

 several at different points bearing the 

 name — Green Island. 



Having secured a fine little sailino- 

 yacht at Mahone Bay, I had some dif- 

 ficulty in finding men willing to make 

 the trip to this island, so far out at 

 sea, and where it is possible to land 



onl}' in calm weather. The day chos- 

 en was delightful, the sea smooth, 

 and the wind so favorable that we 

 sailed out and back without tacking. 

 The great desideratum in visiting this 

 spot was the study of the breeding of 

 the Petrels, or Mother Carey's Chick- 

 ens. I was not a little surprised when 

 one of the company told me I could 

 smell the birds before we I'eached the 

 island if the 

 wind were in 

 the right di- 

 rection. I pro- 

 tested that he 

 was simply 

 practising a 

 joke on my 

 credulity ; but 

 he seemed ve- 

 ritably in ear- 

 nest. Very 

 truly, on ap- 

 proaching the 

 island on the 

 leeward side, 

 and while yet 

 ~ several rods 



distant, the peculiar musky odor of 

 the Petrels was in every breath of the 

 wind. The long swells carried our 

 small boat, towed out for landing, 

 well upon the huge rocks, where we 

 were most cordially received by the 

 keeper of the lighthouse which'j the 

 Government has stationed here. The 

 same Terns which we found at Flat 

 Island were breeding here, also on 

 the ledges of the rocks, but in moder- 



