52 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



and other schools, throughout the United States 

 received hearty response, and an unusual body of 

 students — many of them gray-haired teachers — 

 men and women, assembled at New Bedford one 

 morning late in June, preparatory to embarking 

 for the island, distant some fourteen or fifteen 

 miles down the bay. 



The story of Penikese is too well known for 

 me to dwell on it here. The notable opening of 

 the school is not only historic, but has afforded a 

 theme for one of our poets. Among the teaching 

 staff were Louis Agassiz, Burt G. Wilder, Edward 

 S. Morse, B. Waterhouse Hawkins, Alfred Mayer, 

 the physicist, and Count Pourtales, who had charge 

 of the dredging. 



My first impressions of Penikese were naturally 

 of the bird life of the island. As we approached 

 it that day, myriads of terns rose from their breed- 

 ing grounds. They were birds with which I had 

 but little acquaintance. Two kinds were repre- 

 sented, the common tern and the roseate tern. 

 The latter, though present in great numbers, were 

 much less abundant than the former. Besides the 

 terns were many of the commoner land-birds of 

 Massachusetts, notably meadow-larks, barn-swal- 

 lows, a number of sparrows, such as the yellow- 

 winged and song sparrows, robins and blackbirds. 



At Penikese I made the acquaintance of Mr. 

 H. H. Straight and his wife, who were teachers 



