Penobscot Bay, Maine.
1896
June 22
(No 3)
  The other birds found on Saddleback were Song Sparrows (two old birds)
Savanna Sparrows ([male] singing, another [male] with [female] & brood of young on wing)
Spotted Sandpipers (two or three pairs, one with young about a week
old)[.]
  The colony of Terns breeding here comprised about 50 pairs. They
were quite as shy as those at Halibut Ledge. I suspect that
a considerable proportion of them were Arctic Terns for a good
many of them had peculiar voices and several of them that I
saw best appeared to have very long tails. I failed to identify
any of them, however, and the eggs that we took have little
scientific value. The nests were in short, wiry grass, or spaces of bare earth
and among driftwood. One nest was on a bare rock built of
and among dry seaweed which was not bleached but black in color.
  Spirit Ledge. A small reef of rocks the highest only a little
above the reach of the summer tides and totally devoid of
vegetation, the dry area scarce half an acre in extent.
As we approached this ledge we saw about twenty pairs of
Herring Gulls sitting or standing on or near their nests but
after landing and crossing a wide expanse of rocks covered with
wet, slippery sea weed we found not a single egg. No doubt
some of the fishermen whose boats were anchored near had been
before us. The Gulls rose all together just before we landed &
scattered making but little noise. They were much tamer than
the Terns on the other islands.
  On a flat-topped rock sloping slightly towards the water lay
seven or eight Black Guillemots, some of them with half-
spread wings. They appeared to be basking in the sunlight.
We walked within 40 yards & a fisherman at the same time
was hauling a lobster pot in his boat within 30 yards.
We sailed home later in the afternoon.