LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 157 



scattered over nearly all of the island, principally among the clumps 

 of grass and coarse weeds or under small bushes, on and behind 

 the shell ridges, but also on the marsh and on the muddy flats and 

 sandy beaches, which were partially covered with grass and weeds. 

 The nests on the dry ground or among thick vegetation were not 

 so elaborately built as those on the open marsh. At this date 

 (June 21) most of the eggs were heavily incubated, pipped, or 

 hatched. According to Captain Sprinkle's records the majority of 

 the eggs are laid during the last week in May and hatched about 

 three weeks later. The gulls on this island were particularly 

 tame, being accustomed to the daily visits of the warden. They 

 alighted on their nests readily within 10 feet of my blind, and even 

 in the open, if I sat down quietly, they would soon settle on the 

 ground within easy reach of my camera. 



On the outermost island in this reservation. Grand Cochere, a low 

 flat sand bar, we found a few pairs of laughing gulls with nests scat- 

 tered over the island somewhat apart from the large breeding col- 

 onies of royal and Cabot's terns, with which the island was chiefly 

 populated. The nests were poorly made of the scant supply of 

 grasses, seaweed, and rubbish available. As there was absolutely no 

 vegetation on this bare sand bar, the nesting material must have 

 been brought from a distance. In marked contrast to our experience 

 elsewhere we found many broken eggs of the terns which had ap- 

 parently been eaten by the gulls; we therefore thought it wise to 

 discourage their nesting here and broke up all the nests we could 

 find, about 10, and shot several of the birds. 



Among the numerous small islands in the western part of the res- 

 ervation, near the delta of the Mississippi River, we found a large 

 number of breeding colonies of laughing gulls varying in size from 

 50 or 100 pairs up to 1,000 or 2,000 pairs. Some of the larger islands 

 were of the same type as Battledore Island, but more of them were 

 of the marshy type, locally loiown as " mud lumps," overgrown with 

 rank grasses, low mangrove bushes, and other vegetation. Wherever 

 there were shell or sand beaches black skimmers were nesting. There 

 were numerous breeding colonies of Louisiana and black-crowned 

 night herons in the red mangrove thickets; a few colonies of Fors- 

 ter's terns were breeding on the marshes ; and there were a few scat- 

 tering pairs of Caspian terns; but everywhere the laughing gulls 

 predominated and apparently lived peacefully with their neighbors. 



Eggn. — Three eggs usually constitute the full set, though four eggs 

 are frequently laid, and sometimes only two. Mr. George H. 

 Mackay (1893) speaks of finding a number of nests with five eggs 

 each, and suggests the possibility that these may have been laid by 

 more than one bird. The eggs vary in shape from ovate, or slightly 

 elongated ovate, to short ovate, the prevailing shape being typical 



