 1909
Oct.5-14
(No 2)
Oct.11 [October 11, 1909]
(No 2)
than a dozen in all, of which 2 were Fulmars, 2 small
Gulls which I took to be Kittiwakes, all the others Greater Shearwaters.
Saw 2 large whales spouting and several small ones, doubtless
Black Fish.
  Oct. 12 [October 12, 1909] Noon obs. "Lat. 43.57 N. Lon. 56.37 W. Run 375 knots. Fresh to moderate
south-easterly breeze with slight, confused swell." Cloudless & sunny with
brief intervals of fog at morning & evening. Very warm for the season.
Few birds seen during forenoon but great numbers of them seen between
2 and 6 P.M. They were not continually in sight but occurred in
successive belts 8 or 10 miles wide, separated by birdless (or nearly so) intervals
of about equal width. During the entire period just mentioned I saw 
in all about 200 Greater Shearwaters, one Sooty Shearwater, about 60
Fulmars, 150 to 200 Mother Cary's Chickens (none certainly identified but all
apparently Oceanites oceanicus), fully 300 Little Auks, a flock of Phalaropes
(P. hyperborea?) containing at least 40 or 50 birds, one Kittiwake Gull and 
a very large Jaeger, the Pomarine I thought. No land birds noted.
Someone reported Whales spouting but I saw none.
  Oct 13. [October 13, 1909] Noon obs. ["] Lat 42.45 N. Lon 63.59 W. Run 334 knots. Cloudy 
with light N.W. wind and smooth slightly ruffled sea.["]
  The general total absence of Gulls between a point about 300 
miles west of Ireland, where we were on the morning of the 7th,
and a point about 200 miles east of Boston, where we are at the
time I write this, has surprised me not a little. During our
passage over this expanse of ocean, roughly more than 2000 miles
from east to west I have seen only four Gulls in all, three
of these Kittiwakes. The fourth a Jaegar, all seen to the westward
of the eastern edge of the Grand Banks. Practically all our passengers
have mistaken Fulmars for
Gulls until I set them right.
Absence of Gulls in most of the Atlantic