Song Birds and Water Fowl 



they are now almost as abundant as of old. 

 Next to Muskegat, in point of numbers, is 

 probably Penekese, an island made famous 

 some years ago by its school of natural history; 

 which, since the death of its eminent leader, 

 Agassiz, has been transferred, at least in part, 

 to Wood's Holl, while the abandoned buildings 

 erected for it, and standing empty for many 

 years, were not long ago accidentally burned. 



About the middle of June I made a trip to 

 this now almost deserted island for a brief study 

 of the sea swallow. Leaving New York at night 

 on a Fall River steamer, I arrived at Fall River 

 early the next morning. Thence a short rail- 

 road ride brought me to the good old town of 

 New Bedford, where I engaged a small yacht 

 to take me to Penekese. It was a bright, cool 

 morning, and the sail down the Acushnet River, 

 and out into Buzzard's Bay in a jaunty little 

 craft, with a fine breeze and a jolly skipper, was 

 the most delightful release from the limitations 

 of dry city life that can be imagined. 



This island is the smallest but one of a group 

 of five, lying to the west of Martha's Vineyard, 

 and has an area of hardly a hundred acres. 

 But it is by far the most fertile of all the group, 

 being almost entirely covered with grass, and 



