JOURNAL OP MAINE OR NITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



21 



When near enough to disturb the 

 gulls or terns which might be breeding 

 there, not a bird could be seen, and 

 our hopes which had helped to pass 

 the seven miles now left behind, seem- 

 ed about to be disappointed. 



With the field glasses we saw a 

 Herring Gull rise from the top of the 

 island, and on closer observation a 

 number of others could be seen sitting 

 on the rocks. 



The. hopes, which a few moments be- 

 fore had gone below par, at once ad- 

 vanced a hundred per cent. 



As we neared the island, the gulls 



commenced to act uneasy, some could 



be seen alighting with others that 



were resting near the southwestern 



bluff of the island, while others would 



leave the rocks to gyrate over the is- 

 land. 



On approaching nearer, there could 

 be seen some fifty, or more, gulls sitting 

 near the bluff, all more or less uneasy 

 by our proximity to them. 



We then stopped rowing, and after 

 exposing a number of plates at Pump- 

 kin Knob, made ready to secure an ex- 

 posure of the gulls when they should 

 all arise from the rock; which soon 

 happened. 



Having secured the desired exposure, 

 we then pressed on to find a landing 

 place, feeling sure our anticipations 

 were about to be realized. 



Skirting along the southern point of 

 the knob, we passed along the eastern 

 shore looking for a landing place, 

 which, owing to the jaggedness of the 

 shore and the surf tumbling upon it. 

 was not found until we reached the 

 northeast shore of the island. 



As we rounded the northeast point 

 of the island we came suddenly in 

 view of twenty, or more, Harbor Seal 

 (Phoca vitulina) that had crawled up 

 on the rocks exposed last by the re- 

 ceding tide. 



Upon seeing us, most of them took a 

 promiscuous tumble into the water. 



those that remained rearing up on 

 their fore limbs to inquisitively watch 

 us for a moment, and then follow the 

 rest of the herd. 



Running in on the crest of a friendly- 

 wave we landed in smooth water 

 among the Algae grown • rocks, and 

 hastily securing our boat, started for 

 the top of the island with cameras and 

 other collecting material. 



We then noticed that the Herring 

 Gulls instead of manifesting the usual 

 solicitude when disturbed on their 

 breeding grounds, had all flown to 

 some rocks exposed by the receding 

 tide some distance from the island. 



With this discovery our hopes were 

 at once annihilated, and with feelings 

 known only to the Ornithologist under 

 such conditions, we reached the top of 

 the island. 



A hasty search where the gulls had 

 been sitting too, soon convinced us of 

 the futility of our hopes that the 

 Herring Gulls still bred on Pumpkin 

 Knob. 



A hasty survey of the island showed 

 it to be of some three or more acres 

 extent, the western side sloping toward 

 the north, composed of a coarse, crys- 

 talline rock terminating in a bluff at 

 the southwest end. The top of the 

 rock was covered with irregular 

 patches of black, tough soil, scantily 

 covered with grass, in which were 

 numerous burrows of Leach's Petrel 

 (Oceanodroma leucorhoa). 



Brother Norton at once went to 

 work on a petrels burrow and, had his 

 arm been long enough, would. 1 think, 

 soon have had a subway encircling 

 the island. 



A number of the burrows had been 

 disturbed, and the lamentable sight of 

 two dead petrels decaying close by. 

 told only too plainly that the once 

 flourishing colony had. possibly, met 

 its death blow. 



The burrows ran in a tortuous way 



