THE O. & O. SEMI-ANNUAL. hy 
COLLECTING OFF THE COAST OF MAINE. 
BY CHAS. 8. BUTTERS, HAVERHILL, MASS. 
HAVE not been in the habit of 
writing for magazines, but per- 
haps some of the readers of the 
O. & O. SEmI-ANNUAL would 
like to learn about a trip I took 
this spring down the coast. 
A party of ten of us left New- 
buryport, Mass., July 6th, on a 
fishing excursion, but if anyone 
had Me itied my trunk, they would have found many articles 
that were of no use in a fishing trip ;1i. e., four large cigar boxes, 
filled with cotton, drills, blow-pipes, embryo hooks and _ note- 
books. I went prepared in case anything should turn up. 
On the morning of July Sth, after leaving Portland Harbor, we 
were becalmed off Green Island, about ten miles from the city. 
One of the crew rowed me ashore to see if I could find anything 
in the line of specimens. 
When we left the yacht we could not see anything of any birds, 
but as we neared the island we could see birds flying up in all 
directions, which we found, on closer examination, to be Terns. 
Anyone expecting to identify Tern’s eggs by flushing the bird 
will be most sadly mistaken. 
Upon climbing to the top of the island (which was a small one, 
containing about an acre and a half, about 50 ft. above the sea 
level), I found all the birds had left their nests and were circling 
around overhead, just out of gun range, filling the air with their 
cries, which they continued to do as long as I remained upon 
their domain. 
I collected about twenty sets of from two to five of the freshest 
eggs, which I think were of the common species. I found sets 
of three more often than any other. 
After carefully putting on the set marks, I put them in a small 
basket which I brought from the yacht. 
