VIRGINIA BIRD HOMES 127 



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LAUGHING GULLS HOVERING OVER THEIR NESTS 



thing is that they are not known to breed in eastern North 

 America, though they occur as migrants. Unfortunately 

 there had been a high tide which had washed the key clean 

 of all nests and eggs, certainly of Black Skimmers and Com- 

 mon Terns, and probably of the Black Terns also. I noticed 

 one little hollow, lined with weed, which looked like one of 

 their nests. 



On another islet, — this one marshy, — a dozen miles to the 

 northward of this, I finally found my first nest of the Marsh 

 Hen. First of all, in landing there, I discovered several nests 

 of the Forster's Tern, mere hollows in piles of dry eel-grass 

 drifted up on the marsh grass. One of these, which had the 

 usual three eggs, I photographed, and with it the female bird 

 in the act of alighting. This was done by setting the camera 

 upon the tripod and pulling the thread from hiding in some 



