Penobscot Bay, Maine.
1896
July 9
(No 4)
Brimstone Ledge) for there are no mammals on these small ledges
& the Crows and Gulls are of course quite unable to get at the
eggs while the fishermen, according to Conary, never attempt
to molest them. Even the egg collectors must fail to find
or be unable to reach a considerable proportion of the nests.
Indeed I know of no other New England bird that has
so nearly solved the problem of finding a perfectly secure
nesting place. In addition to the considerations just mentioned
such an island as Brimstone Ledge is absolutely inaccessible
to the human egg-robber excepting during a very few of
the calmest days at this season. May the Guillemots long
continue to build there in this comparative peace and security.
No doubt they would increase rapidly were it not that
with those of other sea-birds the young are frequently shot
before they learn to avoid man. The old birds are shy enough
and it would be a different matter to shoot one here at
least from a sail boat.
  Two Terns hovering over the ledge scolded us as if they had
a nest there but we did not find it.  No other birds were
seen there.
  Later in the afternoon we landed on Marshall's Island.
It is two or three miles long by nearly a mile broad with
spruce, balsam and birch woods alternating with sheep pastures.
A man at work in a field near the only house told us there
were neither Deer nor Hares on the island but that there were
a few Partridges. It was cloudy while we were ashore & birds
if present in any numbers were very silent. My list of species
noted is therefore very brief & as follows: Turdus swainsonii 1*,
Merula migratoria 2, Dendroica virens 1*, Tachycineta 1, Chelidon pair
with young, Ammodramus savanna 1*, Mel. fasciata 3 or 4*, Junco 3,
Zon. albicollis 1*  Empidonax t. alnorum 2, Corvus americanus about a dozen