THE BIRD-LIFE OF TWO ATLANTIC 



COAST ISLANDS 



WITH A WORD ON ISLAND BIRD-LIFE 



INTRODUCTORY 



So far as my experience goes, all colonial, ground-nest- 

 ing birds breed only on islands. Among North American 

 species this is true of the Auks, Murres, Puffins, Guillemots, 

 Gulls, Terns, Skimmers, Petrels, Tropic Birds, Gannets, 

 Cormorants, Pelicans, and Flamingos. Bank Swallows 

 alone might be excepted. 



With many Loons, all Grebes, Coots, Gallinules, Cranes, 

 Black Terns, and some Ducks, the nest is placed in the wa- 

 ter and is an island in itself. 



While many of these birds are born feathered and leave 

 the nest shortly after hatching, they are dependent on their 

 parents for food until they acquire the power of flight. But 

 terrestrial nesting habits and a period of helplessness on 

 the ground, whether in or out of the nest, do not in them- 

 selves require the protection of insular life. Ducks, Snipes, 

 Plovers, Rails, all gallinaceous birds, Goatsuckers, Larks, 

 Pipits, many Sparrows, some Warblers and Thrushes nest 

 on the ground ; and with the last five groups mentioned the 

 young are born naked and are reared in the nest. 



It is therefore more to that gregariousness which brings 

 great numbers of birds of one species into limited area to 

 breed, rather than to the nature of the nesting-site or the 

 condition of the young at birth, that we must attribute the 

 necessity for an island home. Birds of colonial habit lay all 

 their eggs, so to speak, in one basket. During the nesting 

 season, the individuals of a wide area are focussed in a 



