COBB’S ISLAND.
Herbert K. Job’s book is Wild wings: adventures of a camera hunter among the
larger wild birds of North America on sea and land (Houghton Mifflin, 1905,
341pp.). I found a copy at NYC’s The Strand book store June 3, 1971, for
$5.00. Wild wings was a source of inspiration for Roger Tory Peterson when he
was boy, as recounted in RTP’s Birds over America (p. 262 & see below).
One chapter is “Virginia bird-homes of beach and marsh,” pp. 116-133, with 10
b&w photographs of skimmers, Laughing Gulls, Clapper Rails, and Common and
“marsh” (sic; presumably Forster’s Terns, but he denotes these as Gull-billed
Terns and must be right) terns and/or their eggs or chicks.
This book has all the charm of the old Victorian or Edwardian titles with
long-winded, meandering sentences. When you think the photos were taken a good
110 years ago it is remarkable. Ranks up there with Finley & Bohlman, George
Shiras (who also visited the VA ES), Chapman, et al., not to mention “late
comers” such as Arthur A. Allen, Samuel A. Grimes, and Allan D. Cruickshank.
One photograph in particular got my attention, shows “Flock of Laughing Gulls
by the quarantine station,” evidently the old facility on Fisherman Island, in
which several large buildings are seen in the distance and a big water tank,
too.
So, add Job’s names to the early bird people who visited the VA Eastern Shore:
Pettingill, Chapman, Griscom, Peterson, Shiras, T. Gilbert Pearson, et al.
Job also went to Cobb’s Island and probably other barrier islands one year that
July. Back then most of the islands were referred to using the possessive, and
many still are.
I don’t know if there is a sequel to Seashore chronicles: three centuries of
the Virginia barrier islands, the evocative book ed. by Brooks Miles Barnes &
Barry R. Truitt (U. Pr. of Virginia, 1997, 248p). Thought I’d heard there was.
If so it might include Job’s chapter, and Chapman’s (see below).
Two of the chapters in ‘Chronicles’ are by the celebrated book illustrator
Howard Pyle, sometimes mentioned in the same breath as N. C. Wyeth. Pyle’s
grandson, Howard P(yle) Brokaw, is a friend, now in his 90s, who accompanied us
on several of our Delaware big days, not so long ago. Howard, in retirement,
was chairman of the board of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,
on the board of the National Audubon Society, and other organizations.
Another great book is Frank M. Chapman’s Camps and cruises of an ornithologist
(D. Appleton & Co., 1908, 432p.), with a chapter “Cobb’s Island,” pp. 63-76, w/
14 b&w photos of skimmers (especially), Laughing Gulls, a Gull-billed Tern,
and/or their nests, eggs, or young plus a habitat diorama of the American
Museum of Natural History representing the island with Common & Least
(especially) Terns and skimmers incl. some young chicks.
Chapman is not mentioned in Job’s book but Job is, in another context, in
Chapman’s. ‘Camps and Cruises’ has a beautiful dark green binding with gold
lettering and a bright red flamingo on the cover.
In Roger Tory Peterson’s Birds over America (Dodd, Mead, 1948, 342pp.) RTP
mentions a morning “near” Cobb I. when his companions lamented his absence.
“They got up at daybreak to see what they could find before breakfast. I
stayed in bed. In the two hours they were gone they listed forty-two species.
My own list when I came downstairs was forty. I had heard them all from my
pillow and only once did I raise my head to look out the window – when a flock
of curlew flew by.” (p. 19).
BOA is my favorite bird book. RTP recounts (p. 303) how Frank Chapman was told
that 2,800 Least Terns had been killed in 3 days at Cobb I. for the millinery
trade. In one year 100,000 terns were shipped from Virginia to NYC (p. 303; I
find that very hard to believe). Add up all the terns nesting in the state for
the past 10 years they wouldn’t total that high.
Present day artist Thelma Jarvis Peterson has a special fondness for Cobb I.,
has visited it countless (hundreds?) times, esp. the remains of the original
life saving station there, where parts of the 2nd floor, if the structure is
still even there, are now level with the beach.
I have a limited edition print of hers of the later life saving station in our
bedroom in MD - the station that was moved to the mainland on the north end of
Oyster. In our PA living room is her print of Cobb Island decoys, my favorite
of all her works … that I have seen. I’ve heard that Pete Dunne (who had a
severe stroke back in April) has a copy of this print in his dining room. I
was sorry TJP moved her studio from the charming old bank building in Cheriton
to Cape Charles, but the new location must be better for business.
I visited Cobb Island for the 1st time in November 1977, when there were 100s
of shorebirds there. It wasn’t until almost 30 years later that I would go
there again, 5 times in a 36 hour period (!), leading trips for the birding
festival. Seven years ago Bob Anderson, Thuy Tran, and I worked the north end
during the 1st Nassawadox Chistmas Bird Count.
Bill Williams and his crew, heavy in representation of William & Mary folks,
for many years tallied the nesting birds on Cobb and the other Virginia barrier
islands, the results of which are all in the Raven. Various state and federal
agencies, depending on which islands are in their purview, now continue that
good work.
On a day of superior visibility one can (still?), with a good scope, see a few
structures, 5-6 miles distant, on Cobb I. from the end of the shell road on the
south side of Oyster, beckoning the boatless visitor.
“And what if behind me to westward
The wall of the woods stands high?
The world lies east. How ample
The marsh and the sea and the sky.” – Sydney Lanier
Friend George Reiger used this as the epigraph of his book Wanderer on my
native shore, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. One of GR’s quotes relates
specifically to the saltmarshes near his Locustville, VA, home.
“The rocky coasts of the North Atlantic and Pacific have a more flamboyant
beauty than do marshlands. High winds create sound and light spectacles where
jagged cliffs stand opposed to the thundering sea. The contrasts and
Leitmotifs are pure Wagner, but the music of the salt marsh is Brahms.”
This is a quote from his article in the Sept.-Oct. 1977 Audubon entitled
“Meanders in a marsh.” I’ve trotted out these 2 quotes in other contexts years
ago. Sorry if they’re Old Hat, but they still resonate with me, give me a rush.
Job also uses a quote (p. 116) of Sydney Lanier:
“… with a step I stand
On the firm-packed sand,
Free
By a world of marsh that borders a world of sea.”
Be careful. These places can get ahold of you and “form as a habit and seep in
your soul.” (Merle Travis, ‘Dark as a dungeon’).
Here’s to the good old days, the good days to come, and the old-timers. – Harry
Armistead, Philadelphia.
