THE O. & O. SEMI-ANNUAL. 23 
As we were going out to the yacht, I saw some strange birds 
flying over the beach a short distance down the shore. I per- 
suaded one of the crew to row me down to them. I saw one of 
the birds flying over the water, and it looked as if it had a bright 
red tail. On shooting one it proved to be a fine male specimen 
of the Black Guillemot, and as its tail is quite short and feet 
red, it gave it the appearance, when flying, of having a red 
tail. . I found these birds quite plentiful among the rocks. This 
was the only island on which I found them. 
That they were breeding I soon found out by hearing the young 
among the rocks, but we could not get at them. I think it was 
too late for eggs. I found a few pieces of shells lying around on 
the rocks. 
After dinner I began to prepare the eggs I had taken. I found 
I had quite a job before me, and it was three days before I finished 
them, preparing a few at atime. I was not able to save more 
than one egg out of six, as some of the birds in them were very 
large. | 
The young birds were kept in a pen on deck; fed on fish, 
clams, lobsters, etc. It was quite a job to furnish them with food, 
but they aflorded us much amusement during the rest of the trip. 
Some of these same gulls may be seen in Haverhill to-day, seem- 
ingly as contented as at the native islands. 
DIFFICULTIES. 
BY C. S. BRIMLEY, RALEIGH, N. C-—MARCH, TSgo. 
Collecting eggs has its disappointments and perplexities as 
well as successes, and as the collecting season will soon be here, 
a few remarks on the subject may be in order. One difficulty 
that has often bothered me is. how to find out when a nest con- 
tains a full set of eggs,in a case where it is impossible to look into 
the nest, and this often causes one to leave the next nests too long, 
and then the set, if saved, is adorned with holes one could almost 
get one’s head through (figuratively speaking, | mean). 
For instance, last spring we located:a number of Pine War- 
bler nests building, and decided on a certain day to take them. 
