Page:Bird-lore Vol 03.djvu/63

 rock was covered by a scanty soil, forming a colony of goodly size, although by no means crowded. In view of the numbers of old birds circling overhead, the scarcity of eggs and apparent absence of young seemed a little remarkable: but a more careful look showed them all about us, squeezed among the rocks, half concealed under the scanty tufts of grass or, with tightly closed eyes, flattening themselves into some slight depression in the soil. Not one, if memory be not treacherous, was in its nes; and some of the larger birds were a long way from home, skulking along among the rocks in the endeavor to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the unwelcome intruders. A number of young Burgomasters may usually be seen about the village of St. Paul, their legs

or bills decorated with a colored head or two, or a strip of red flannel, these being nestlings brought back by the egging parties early in the season and kept for pets, not, as Herring Gulls are in parts of Newfoundland, to be used for food later on. They are readily domesticated and become very tame, running about the village and along the shore in search of food, or, later on, taking long flights with the wild Gulls. It always seems a little singular to see a bird leave a flock and come flying to the village, or to squeal for food. For young Gulls are always "so hungry;" possibly, at times, they get all they wish to eat, but the few whose acquaintance I have made seemed blessed with "a perfectly lovely appetite."

A few Tufted Puffins (Lunda cirrbata) and Cormorants (Phalacrocorax