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Bird's-nesting in the Magdalen Islands. 



By p. B. Philipp. 



With photographs by the author. 



In 1907 Mr. T. F. Wilcox and I decided to make a collecting 

 trip to the Magdalen Islands, and to see for ourselves the bird 

 wonders of that far-off place, so graphically described by Chap- 

 man and Job. Our chief object was collecting, but we took 

 along as part of our equipment a Graflex camera, and a 5 X 7 

 plate camera equipped with a long-focus lens. Our work in the 

 field w^as limited to a little over two weeks, into which, in such 

 an interesting place, was crammed so much other work that 

 photography was somewhat neglected. 



The Magdalens — or ^'Madaleens," as the natives call them 

 — are a group of small islands which lie far out in the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence, about 150 miles north of Nova Scotia, and nearly 

 midway between Newfoundland and northern New Brunswick. 

 The largest of the islands comprises a stretch of hill, beach, and 

 swamp, some 50 miles in length, with Amherst, the metropolis 

 of the islands, at its southern end, and Grosse Isle, a fishing 

 village of a few shanties, at its northern end. The extent 

 between Amherst and Grosse Isle is designated on the maps as 

 composed of several islands. As a matter of fact, these wider 

 areas are joined by strips of sandy beach, over which it is 

 possible, during the summer, at least, to walk dry-shod. Here 

 and there are bold headlands, such as Grindstone Island and 

 Wolf Island, all joined by stretches of beach and marsh. 

 Toward the northern end of this long island is located the port 

 of Grand Entry, a small village whose inhabitants are devoted 

 exclusively to fishing, the great industry of the Magdalen 

 Islands. Grand Entry is the last port of call for the steamer 

 plying between the islands and the mainland. Six or eight 

 miles across a bay of very stormy water lies Grosse Isle, the 

 Mecca of the ornithologist visiting the main portion of the 

 islands. North from Grosse Isle the island extends for eight or 



