52 AMBROSE ON BIRDS FREQUENTING ST. MARGAKET's BAY, 



Brent Goose — (y^,7iser brenta.) 



Common Gannet — (Stda Alba.) 



Shag — Cormorant — (Phalacrocorax cristatus.') 



Saddle-back Gull — (Larus Marimis.) 



Large grey Gull, 



Mackerel Gull — (L. argentatus.') 



Winter Gull — {L. leucopterus.) 



Sea Goose. 



This list is by no means complete, as there are many birds less 

 frequently seen on the coast, of which I have not yet obtained 

 specimens or reliable accounts. 



The main body of these birds spend the winter far to the west- 

 ward of these shores; but a large number of stragglers of almost 

 the whole list (of the duck and gull species) remain over winter, 

 and furnish an agreeable variety to the larder, and a luxurious sub- 

 stratum as well as covering to the beds of our fishermen. On every 

 fine day towards spring, especially if slightly hazy, as before a 

 thaw, when the sea is smooth, from daylight till dusk, a continual 

 popping is heard all around the Bay, and the far-off dot-like boats 

 with their puffs of smoke add an enlivening effect to our winter 

 landscape. Then the murr shooter is busy, for murrs at this season 

 of the year seldom fly, but strive to escape by diving. The fowler, 

 provided with one or two old militia muskets, an ox-horn full of 

 cannon powder, and a bag of duck shot, sits amidships in his skiff, 

 facing the bow. Pushing the oars, he quietly approaches the murr 

 within thirty or forty yards, and fires. If the shot fails, the bird 

 dives and comes up a hundred yards or so further off, is again 

 approached as before, and so on until finally secured. 



Our sea-birds begin to return eastwardly to the breeding places 

 in the folloAving order: — eiders about the middle of March; young 

 coots and young eiders (i. e. birds not a year old), puffins, murrs, 

 turrs, long-tailed ducks, harlequin ducks, loons, sea-pigeons, and 

 shell-birds, about the last of March. Old coots a week or so later 

 than the foregoing. By the last of Jvme all birds of the duck 

 species have passed. 



They mostly fly with a fair wind, though not a day passes with- 

 out some travellers during the migrating season. The largest num- 

 bers keep off at distances varying from four to eight miles from the 

 ordinary coast lino, so that the largest flocks are clear of danger, 



