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JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



which has a most nauseating smell. 



Should any of it come in contact 

 with your flesh, or clothes, it will 

 "stick to you closer than a brother." 



I would advise any one to handle a 

 petrel the same as they would a gun, 

 as though it were always loaded. 



As the sun was then well down in 

 the west, we turned our attention to 

 the sea wall for Black Guillemots 

 which, we judged, were breeding 

 among the loose rocks just above high 

 , tide limit. 



As we came in sight of the water on 

 that side of the island, a number of 

 guillemots were noticed a short dis- 

 tance from the shore, each holding 

 some small object in its bill which we 

 judged to be food for its young; these 

 we afterwards learned were small fish 

 known as Rock Eels which can be 

 found between tides under loose 

 stones. 



After hunting sometime among the 

 rocks for signs that might help us dis- 

 cover their nests and meeting with no 

 success, we concluded to conceal our- 

 selves behind some rocks and, by 

 watching, locate their nests when they 

 flew in to feed their young. 



The guillemots manifested their un- 

 easiness at our presence near their 

 breeding ground, by their restless 

 movements. 



They were sitting on the water with 

 tail and head erect:, which gave them 

 a very stiff appearance. 



They would turn around a number 

 of times very quickly, and kept dip- 

 ping their bills in the water, a char- 

 acteristic of the species. 



Now and then one would leave the 

 water and fly in along the sea wall, 

 and describing a half circle in its 

 flight, fly some distance out to sea, 

 again lighting on the water. 



Although we saw them repeat such 

 movements a number of times, not 

 while we were watching (which was 

 more than an hour) did any of them 



go to their nests. 



It then being twilight, we turned 

 our steps toward our tent, and having 

 eaten our supper, we again started for 

 the petrels nesting ground first visited. 



The moon had passed its. full by a 

 few days and we hoped, with the aid 

 of its light, to learn something of the 

 nocturnal habits of the petrels. Un- 

 fortunately for us, soon after the moon 

 arose the sky became cloudy, which 

 prevented us from observing their 

 habits as closely as we wished. When 

 we reached the above mentioned 

 ground, what a change had taken 

 place! 



Instead of the silence of the late af- 

 ternoon when first visited, a babel of 

 sounds now reigned. 



I hardly knew whether I was on an 

 island in Maine, a Chinese laundry, or 

 a Choctaw reservation. 



From every rock the same gibberage 

 was repeated, so I soon concluded it 

 must all be one language. 



The air was full of dusky forms flit- 

 ting here and there, while others were 

 appearing and disappearing among the 

 rank weeds which concealed many of 

 their homes. 



Sitting down among the weeds and 

 stones, we watched the manoeuvres as 

 best we could, of our dusky neighbors. 



Suddenly a form would appear and 

 gliding in among the weeds or running 

 down over a rock, disappear, and a 

 moment later a greeting would be 

 heard which I interpreted like this: 



"Go get your supper my dear 

 woman, I'll take care of that egg," and 

 the next moment a form would appear 

 and glide off into the darkness. The 

 birds were gliding about in all direct- 

 ions within arm's length of us, and a 

 number of times they were felt to 

 touch us as they passed by. 



Two were seen to cross each other's 

 course, and their wings were heard to 

 clash together as they passed each 



