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Bird- Lore 



there are 200, as some were probably away 

 fishing during my brief visits. This esti- 

 mate does not include the young this year, 

 as they are such adepts at hiding that it 

 was impossible to find them all during my 

 short stops. 



Under protection, the Common Tern 

 and the Roseate Tern are increasing an- 

 nually in numbers, and are now breeding 

 again on coasts and islands whence they 

 were driven years ago by the feather- 

 hunters. Conservative estimates of the 

 number of birds seen at the principal 

 islands this year, give Muskeget 10,000; 

 Penikese, 7,000; the Weepeckets, 5,000; 

 Ram Island, 1,200; Gull Island, 700; 

 Skiff's Island, 300. It is impossible to 

 estimate the number of Roseate Terns as 

 compared with the Common Tern, but 

 the largest numbers of Roseate Terns were 

 seen on Muskeget and Gull Island. The 

 Muskeget Terns are well protected by a 

 resident warden during the breeding sea- 

 son, but there are cats at the life-saving 

 station there. Dr. Parker, Superintendent 

 at the Massachusetts State Leper Hospital 

 at Penikese, protects the birds there; 

 although he considers them a great nui- 

 sance, as they nest in the mowing fields 

 and the corn fields, preventing seasonable 

 cutting of the grass and requiring an extra 

 man, while cultivating corn, to hold the 

 horse, which is continually frightened by 

 the angry birds. Common Terns are now 

 breeding along the coast of Martha's 

 Vineyard, on islands in Buzzard's Bay, 

 about Cape Cod, and even along the 

 North Shore. 



The few Laughing Gulls that were 

 saved from the feather-hunters by the 

 protection afforded them on Muskeget have 

 so increased that there are now at least 

 one thousand birds in two colonies there. 

 A few were seen on Gull Island, Chappa- 

 quidick, Martha's Vineyard and Monomoy, 

 but no eggs or young were found except 

 on Muskeget. A few Herring Gulls appear 

 to stay on Skiff's and Gull Islands, but 

 do not breed. 



There was considerable mortality 

 among the young of the Common Terns 

 everywhere; some had their heads torn 



off by cats; others died of disease; on 

 Penikese, some were trampled by cattle 

 and sheep and a few had been shot, but, 

 nevertheless, the steady increase of the 

 birds is a great object lesson in the effi- 

 cacy of bird-protection. 



During my visit to Katama Bay I saw 

 only ten adult Piping Plover actually 

 breeding, and the entire number seen on 

 the Massachusetts coast in July did not 

 exceed twenty birds. Very small young 

 birds were seen in July and August. 

 The laws of Massachusetts still allow the 

 shooting of these birds in these months; 

 and, while such laws are allowed to remain 

 on the statute books, the only possible 

 hope for the salvation of the birds lies 

 in purchasing their breeding grounds and 

 protecting them there. — E. H. Forbush. 



Notes from North Carolina 



The storm which recently visited the 

 North Carolina coast, extending over a 

 period of five days, from July 28 to August 

 I, was more destructive to the breeding 

 sea-birds than any storm of which we 

 have had previous experience in that 

 territory. Coming, as it did, at the very 

 height of the nesting season, the loss of 

 eggs and young birds newly hatched was 

 truly appalling. The six, low, sandy 

 islands occupied by the birds were com- 

 pletely swept by the waves, and all the 

 eggs and young birds, as yet unable to fly, 

 were carried away. N. F. Jennette, of 

 Cape Hatteras, who is the chief warden 

 of the territory, estimates the loss at not 

 less than 10,000 young birds and eggs. 



Early in the season, the colonies had 

 been disturbed by a storm which had so 

 delayed them that only a few hundred 

 young birds were able to fly when the 

 storm of July 28 came. The bodies of 

 more than one thousand young Terns 

 were washed ashore near Cape Hatteras, 

 and Warden Jennette reports that for 

 days the old birds hovered over the bodies 

 of their offspring, alightmg among them 

 and bringing them food. The storm also 

 damaged the islands; for e.<ample, over 

 one-third of Roval Shoal is now below 



