1 Hooded Merganser , 8 Red-breasted Nuthatch

421 Common Merganser 1 Brown Creeper

35 Bed-breasted Mbrganser 13 Golden-crowned Kinglet

1 Bald Eagle 2 American Robin

1 Buteo sp. 1374 European Starling

21 Gray Partridge 1 Song Sparrow

1 Ruffed Grouse 1 Dark-eyed Junco

2 Ringtbilled Gull 1 Red-winged Blackbird 527 Herring Gull 22 Brown-headed Cowbird

1 Lesser Black-backed Gull 15 White-winged Crossbill

1 Glaucous Gull 25 Pine Siskin 254 Great Black-backed Gull 417 Evening Grosbeak 175 Thick-billed Murre (hypothetical) 371 House Sparrow

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BIRD SURVEYS FROM PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND . FERRIES

In the past number of years, the Canadian Wildlife service has accumulated a great store of data on the distribution of seabirds in eastern Canadian waters. This information has greatly aided our understanding of seabird ecology because, if we know where birds are, we can begin to answer the deeper questions of why they choose these areas, and how they find them.

—~Despite the wealth of marine life in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, our knowledge- of seabird distribution patterns in the waters around Prince Edward ISland has lagged behind that of open Atlantic waters off Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Accordingly, the Prince Edward Island Natural History society has decided to launch its own program to fill this gap. For this purpose, the ferries linking the Island to Nova Sbotia, New Brunswick and the Magdalen Islands, provide convenient platforms. society members and others are invited to use standard- ized forms to record birds they see from ferries, and to submit these to the Natural History society. A copy of this form is printed in this Newsletter.

Because this project ahs been conceived as a scientific exercise, it is essential that sightings be made, and the forms be completed, exactly according to the instructions given on the reverse of the form. In particular, observations made while the vessel is steaming must be made during watches which are ten minutes long. This is to allow our data to be directly comparable to those collected by the Canadian Wildlife Service.

For additional information and forms, please contact Winnie Cairns or Geoff Hogan at the next meeting of the Societx.

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