Notes on a Collection of Bird Fleas from Grand Manah, New Brunswick

• Published in: The Canadian Entomologist
• Main Authors: Benton, Allen H., Shatrau, Vaughnda
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1962
• Subjects: Insect Science; Molecular Biology; Physiology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Structural Biology; Common Eider; Oceanodroma leucorhoa; Somateria mollissima
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.4039/ent94743-7; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0008347X00075763

Near Grand Manan Island, in the Ray of Fundy and about 20 miles from the coast of Maine and 30 miles from Nova Scotia, lie Kent Island and Hay Island. During the summer of 1961, we secured collections of bird nests from these islands so as to study the flea fauna. Nests of the following species were collected: Larus argentatus , herring gull; Somateria mollissima , common eider; Corvus brachyrhynchos , crow; Oceanodroma leucorhoa , Leach's petrel; Riparia r. riparia , bank swallow; Hirundo rustica erythrogaster , barn swallow; Petrochelidon pyrrhonota albifrons , cliff swallow; Iridoprocne bicolor , tree swallow; and Passerculus sondwichensis , savannah sparrow. The nests of herring gulls, eiders, crows, and Leach's petrels proved to be without fleas, but from the other nests 797 fleas were collected.