198 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



on Cobb's Island, and perhaps 8 or 10 pairs on Wreck Island, a few 

 miles distant. Mr. A. B. Howell (1911) visited Cobb's Island in 1909 

 and recorded eight pairs. This record shows clearly the results of 

 the same causes which annihilated the least terns in this region — 

 the demands of the millinery trade for the decoration of women's hats 

 and the zeal with which a lucrative trade was pushed by local 

 gunners. Apparently the few survivors are holding their ground 

 and perhaps increasing under adequate protection. 



Spring. — From its winter quarters in Central and South America 

 the gull-billed tern makes it spring migration along the coast in 

 March and April. Audubon (1840) gives the following account of 

 it: 



The marsh tern is pretty abundant about the salt marshes of the mouths 

 of the Mississippi in the beginning of April ; and by following the shores of 

 the Gulf of Mexico you will find that it comes to us from beyond Texas, as 

 many make their appearance along that coast in a straggling manner during 

 spring, there being seldom more than half a dozen together, and generally 

 only two. Their journeys are performed over the waters of the sea, a few 

 hundred yards from the shore; and when in want of food they diverge from 

 their ordinary course, and ranging over the land satisfy their hunger, when 

 they resume their route. 



Wayne .(1910) says that it arrives in South Carolina "about 

 the middle of April and is sometimes common up to May 10, but 

 does not breed. It does not frequent the salt marshes while on 

 this coast, but prefers the sandy beaches." 



Courtshi'p. — Audubon (1840) has given us the only account of 

 what might be considered a nuptial flight. He says : 



Excepting the Cayenne tern, I know no American species that has so povi^er- 

 ful a flight as the present. To this power is added an elegant lightness that 

 renders it most conspicuous and pleasing during the love season. Then " the 

 happy pair " are seen to rise in elegant circling sweeps, almost in the manner 

 of hawks, and only a few feet apart, until they attain a height of about 

 200 yards, when they come close together, and then glide with extended 

 pinions through the air, the male over the female, both emitting tender and 

 plaintive notes, while they vary their evolutions at the same height for 

 five or six minutes. After this the winged lovers separate, plunge toward the 

 earth with wonderful rapidity, resume their ordinary notes, and seek for food 

 in concert. 



Nesting. — On Cobb's Island and Wreck Island, Virginia, we found 

 four nests on June 26 and 28, 1907. These were all placed on the 

 high, dry sand flats, back of the beaches, beyond the reach of the 

 ordinary tides, but where the spring tides had deposited large quan- 

 tities of oyster, clam, and scallop shells, with numerous small stones 

 scattered over the sand. These were excellent places for the conceal- 

 ment of the eggs, which so closely resembled small spotted stones that 

 it was very difficult to find them. The nests were quite character- 

 istic and entirely different from other terns' nests; three of them 

 were merely slight hollows in the sand, among the clam and oyster 



