Voyage from Liverpool to Boston.
1911.
August 2
(No 2)
[August 2, 1911]

Birds in Queenstown Harbor.
Gulls & Murres
Mew Gulls absent.
Shag.

  On nearing Queenstown, however, we saw them in ever-increasing
numbers and its roomy land-locked harbor proved to be alive
with Gulls and Murres although there were no Gannets or Shearwaters there.
Swarms of Gulls clustered about the ship and Murres in pairs &
small flocks drifted past within gunshot of us as the[y] floated on
the water. Almost if not quite one half of the Gulls in this harbor
were Little Black-heads most of the remaining half being Herring Gulls
with a few Black-backs of both kinds. We looked in vain for
Mew Gulls (L. canus) or rather we tried in vain to fully satisfy
ourselves that any of the birds we saw belonged to that species. Some
looked smaller than Herring Gulls but none quite small enough
for L. canus. We had them very near us, in good lights, as they
passed & repassed on wing or floated on the water. I have
had similar trouble before this in trying to separate Mew Gulls
from Herring Gulls. Yet the difference in size should be appreciable.
As we entered the mouth of the harbor a Shag (P. graculus) passed
within 200 yards flying out to sea.