LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GIHLLS AND TERNS. 271 



several places where they had been entirely extirpated, on the main- 

 land as well as on the islands. 



In Wilson's time the least terns bred abundantly on the New Jersey 

 coast. During his whole stay on the Cape May beaches they flew in 

 clouds around him. Mr. G. S. Morris says, writing of the same spot 

 in 1881, in some notes sent to Dr. Witmer Stone (1909) : 



The least terns bred in considerable numbers, and were equally vociferous 

 in their protests against intruders. It is difficult, at this late date (1909), to 

 give an estimate of numbers, but I can remember standing in one spot and 

 seeing five or six nests within a radius of 15 or 20 feet ; but my recollections are 

 that these conditions only pertained to an acre or so of the beach. In the 

 summer of 1884, in July, I could find no least tern's eggs, and natives told me 

 they no longer found eggs on the beach. During the period 1881-1886 I saw a 

 good deal of the slaughter of the birds in this region. I remember coming upon 

 two professional millinery gunners, I think in the summer of 1885, who had 

 two piles about knee-high of least and common terns, which they said they 

 were sending to New York, my recollection being that they got 12 cents apiece 

 for the birds. 



Dr. Witmer Stone (1909), writing of the conditions in 1908, says: 

 Mr. H. G. Parker in 1S8S estimated that there were only 30 pairs left on 

 Seven Mile Beach, and Mr. Philip Laurent (1892) says that some still breed 

 there. Since then we have no definite breeding record, but Mr. W. L. Baily 

 saw two birds together at Stone Harbor, July 15, 1899, which he felt sure 

 were nesting. 



Since that time least terns have increased in numbers all along the 

 coast where protected. 



The most pitiful tale of destruction is the story of the Cobb's 

 Island and other colonies on the coast of Virginia. Mr. H. B. Bailey 

 (1876), in writing of the nesting habits of the least tern, or "little 

 striker," on Cobb's Island in 1875, says: 



Colonies of about 50 pairs each of this species extend the whole length of the 

 island at about a distance of 1 mile apart. 



Least terns were astonishingly abundant all along the Virginia 

 coast at that time, but during the next decade their destruction was 

 appalling. Professional collectors for the millinery trade spent the 

 greater part of the breeding season on the islands and killed the inno- 

 cent birds in almost incredible numbers. The resident fishermen and 

 oystermen also found it a lucrative occupation. As many as 1,200 

 birds were ofuen killed in a day, and one of the residents, who had 

 taken part in the slaughter himself, told me that as many as 100,000 

 terns were sometimes killed in a season. Mr. William H. Fisher 

 (1897), writing of conditions in 1891, says: 



When I first went to the island about 28 years ago the least, common, and 

 Forster's terns nested there in colonies of thousands, but now few of them 

 breed and the least is seldom seen. During four days on the island in May, 

 1891, I only saw one of the latter, and it was as wild as an oystercatcher, which 

 is a very wild bird. The royal tern also nested on the island at one time. 



