The Audubon Societies 



277 



large numbers of Terns were resting. 

 Perhaps five thousand of these birds were 

 nesting there. Many of them appeared 

 to be Arctic Terns, and probably they 

 were mostly of this species. Puffins were 

 continually seen feeding off-shore, or 

 flying over the rocks with objects in 

 their bills which may have been food for 

 their young. Some of their nests were 

 found in the crevices or under the gigantic 

 boulders which covered one part of the 

 island. Seventy-four of these birds were 

 counted, and the light-keeper stated that 

 the colony contained about three hundred. 

 So far as we are aware, this is the most 

 southern point where Puffins now breed 

 on our Atlantic coast. One Razor-billed 

 Auk was seen. 



It was estimated that soil covered the 

 rocks in the neighborhood of four acres. 

 This was honeycombed with the nu- 

 merous burrows of the Leach's Petrels. 



The light-house keeper's boy was the 

 proud possessor of a dog which evidentl}^ 

 was a great pleasure to him, living as he 

 does far from the companionship of other 

 children. This dog, however, was a 

 scourge to the Petrels. It was an easy 

 matter for him to dig out their burrows, 

 and there was abundant evidence of his 

 activities in this line. Petrels which had 



been killed were lying everywhere in the 

 grass. The writer picked up several 

 which lay within a radius of ten feet of a 

 rock and photographed them on it. In 

 the space of less than an acre, he counted 



ENTRANCE TO NESTING-BURROWS OF 

 LEACH'S PETRELS 



LEACH'S PETRELS KILLED BV DOG ON 

 MACHIAS SEA ISLAND 



the bodies of 147 dead Petrels. To save 

 the colony, it was necessary to restrain 

 the dog at once, and, after a lengthy con- 

 versation with the keeper and his boy, 

 an agreement was reached whereby it 

 was arranged that in return for a money 

 consideration the dog was to be kept in 

 close confinement in an outhouse, until it 

 could be removed to the mainland. A 

 dog in a breeding colony of birds is evi- 

 dently second in destructiveness only 

 to a cat. — T. G. P. 



Aigrette Traffic 



For two or three years, this Associa- 

 tion, in connection with the Audubon 

 Society of South Carolina, has been 

 exerting every possible effort for the 

 protection of those plume-bearing White 

 Herons which inhabit the coast country 

 of South Carolina. Reference in the past 

 has been made in the columns of Bird- 

 Lore to the 'shooting up' of some of 

 these rookeries by plume-hunters. 



To those who are following closely our 



