CORMORANT ROCK. 21 



Still another visitor at the rock during the late spring and sum- 

 mer is the Spotted Sandpiper (Actiits macularia) which occa- 

 sionally makes a " flying trip " off from Sachuest Point and awak- 

 ens the stillness of this out of the way spot by its bright, clear 

 whistle. It is not thought that these Sandpipers have any definite 

 aim in coming to the rock, further than the fact that it makes an 

 interesting spot to visit, when they feel vigorous, and like making 

 a trip across one mile of intervening ocean. On a visit to the 

 rock on the i8th of April, 1899, Mr. Sturtevant was suddenly 

 surprised to see a Vesper Sparrow flit past and light on the rock 

 only a few feet away. It appeared nervous and not at home, 

 moving from place to place on the rock as if worried and unable 

 to make up its mind to resume its migratory flight. 



Among the most interesting of the smaller birds that make 

 their way here are the Purple Sandpipers (Triiiga maritima) . 

 When the winter winds are penetrating and bleak, these little 

 fellows will stand motionless upon the cold rock just out of reach 

 of the waves, and facing the wind, their backs arched and their 

 heads drawn down upon their shoulders, they present a most cold 

 and cheerless appearance. At such times they are remarkably 

 tame, allowing one to approach within ten feet of them, without 

 showing the least alarm. Finally, if one draws too near, they 

 will fly off a few feet, or, more often, around to the other side of 

 the rock, uttering as they do so their plaintive whistle. 



We have devoted a chapter to this rock as it presents an 

 ideal point of observation from which to study maritime avifauna. 

 It is difficult to steal into the very environment of sea-birds as 

 one can into that of land-birds, but hidden in one of the natural 

 crevices of this rock, with the roar of the sea continually in 

 one's ears, and with Stolid Sandpiper and shy Black Duck almost 

 within reach, one feels an intruder, a traveller, as it were, in a 

 foreign land. 



A list of species observed upon the rock or immediately sur- 

 rounding it is here given. 



Holboell's Grebe {Colymbus holbcellii) . 

 Horned Grebe {Colymbus auritus). 

 Loon {Gaviaimber). 

 Red-throated Loon {Gavia lumme) . 



