204 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



been found breeding there, laying two eggs in a hollow scooped in 

 the sand. We did not see any Caspian terns in our visit to these 

 islands in 1907. 



My only experience with the nesting habits of this fine species 

 was in 1910, in the Breton Island reservation, off the coast of Louisi- 

 ana. Here, on June 18, on Grand Cochere Island, a low, flat, sandy 

 island, a hundred miles offshore, we found about 40 pairs of Caspian 

 terns breeding. The island is more fully described under the roj^al 

 tern, which was breeding here in immense numbers. The Caspian, 

 terns did not mingle with the large colonies of royal and Cabot's 

 terns, but had selected the extreme eastern end of the island entirely i 

 apart from the others, where tLey had placed their nests in a ' 

 fairly compact colony among the scattered rows of driftwood and 

 rubbish, which offered some slight concealment. The nests were 

 large, deep hollows, lined with sticks, coarse straws, bits of shell and 

 other rubbish picked up in the vicinity; the rim of the nest was 

 usually built up, more or less, elaborately like a gull's nest. The 

 nests were almost always decorated with shells and often with 

 feathers. Numerous pellets of fishbones, evidently <;ast up by the 

 birds, were scattered about the nests. In marked contrast with the 

 royal and Cabot's terns, the Caspian terns were very shy; they left 

 their nests long before we reached them and flew about overhead, 

 screaming loudly. They never offered to attack us and barely came 

 within gunshot. I was told by my boatmen that I could not shoot 

 any, as they were very shy and extremely hard to kill. I succeeded, 

 however, in bringing down four, all I wanted, with five shots from 

 my heavy 10-bore gun. We found several other scattering pairs on 

 the other islands in the reservation, among the colonies of other sea 

 birds, but usually the Caspian terns nested singly and a little apart 

 from the others. Larger colonies, containing from 75 to 200 birds, 

 have been found on some of these islands. 



Mr. Stanley C. Arthur writes me that he found a colony of 119 

 pairs of Caspian terns breeding on a small islet, about an acre in 

 extent, near Alexander Island, on the Louisiana coast, on July 3, 

 1918. The interior of the island was low and covered with marsh 

 grass, but it was surrounded by a horseshoe-like rim of shells and 

 sand, principally old oyster shells, on which the terns were nesting. 

 Their nesting habits here were exceedingly primitive, for in no case 

 did he find any evidence of nest building. Many eggs were merely 

 lying on the shells; others were in slight depressions or hollows, 

 which may have been made by the birds or may have been found 

 already made. No nesting material had been brought in. The num- 

 ber of eggs in a nest was never more than two and often only one. 



