VOL. IX. 



The Oologist. 



ALBION. N. Y., AUG., 1892. 



NO. 8 



Collecting on Cobb's Island, Va. 



Extending along the Atlantic side of 

 the Eastern shore of Virginia is a series 

 of Hat grassy islands, many of which 

 are so low as to be covered with water 

 at high tide. Some are there however 

 which rear their backs high" enough 

 above the waves to be safe from an 

 over-flow. Such a one as this is Cobb's 

 Island, a large low sand spit which at 

 flood tide is only a few feet above 

 M'ater. It is seven miles in length, 

 while in width it is scarcely over an 

 eighth of a mile, except at the south end 

 where it widens out considerably and 

 gives ami)le room for the buildings of 

 a United States Life Saving Station, a 

 hotel and ?everal residences owned by 

 parties who make them their summer 

 homes. The ocean bi'eaks continuous- 

 l.v for the entire length on the eastern 

 side of the island. Stretching along 

 the western sliox'e for ])erhaps half its 

 length a salt marsh with its cackling 

 Rails and low hovering Gulls makes 

 the collector impatient to know what it 

 contains. After going about three- 

 fourths of the way up the island from 

 the hotel one comes to a stretch of 

 bare sand the width of the island and a 

 mile or more in length. Scarcely a 

 blade of grass is to be found on this 

 blistering beach, yet this is a rookery 

 and the breeding place of nearly all the 

 bii-ds on the island. Skimmers, Terns, 

 Plovei's and Oystercatchers all find a 

 genial nest for their eggs in the warm 

 sand: In the tall gra.ss along the west- 

 ern side of the island Willets find a safe 

 retreat for their nests. 



While on an a collecting trip this last 

 summer I stopped for several days on 

 Cobb's Island, arriving there on July 

 15th: There is no doubt but that this 

 was at one time a great nesting j»Iace 



for sea birds. Prof. Ridgeway tells us 

 of finding, years ago, a colony of thous- 

 ands of Royal Terns breeding in close 

 proximity on this island. But the col- 

 ony was .'oon aftcn-wards driven away 

 and they have never been known to 

 frequent the place since. During the 

 entire time of my .stay upon the island 

 I did not .see a single individual and 

 Captain Crumb of the United States 

 Life Saving Station who is an excellent 

 Ornithologist, — and to whom I am in- 

 debted for muchjvaluable information — 

 informs me that he considers it a rather 

 rare resident upon the island. Not so 

 with the Common and Forster's Tern, 

 they are still to be met with in consid- 

 erable numbers. The former placing 

 its eggs in a slight hollow in the sand 

 along the beach above high-water mark; 

 the' latter building its nest Of flags and 

 reeds in convenient places in tne marsh. 

 But alas, for the Least Tern! That 

 l>eautiful fairy of snowy whitenes! 

 Once it bred in vast numbers upon the 

 beaches of Cobb's and adjacent islands. 

 Scores of them were sacrificed for 

 science, hundreds were killed for piac- 

 tice by the so-called spoilsman during 

 his summer outing and thousands were 

 pitilessly slain and sent to New York 

 to help gratify "Fashion's" cry fou bird 

 feathers. I was told by a gentleman 

 that not many years ago he took iu one 

 day from a single rookery three hundred 

 i)irds. Think of it, and now it is one 

 of the rarest oirds on the island. Upon 

 one occasion only did I .see the .S. an- 

 tillarum. It perceived me apparently 

 at the same time and with a startled 

 cry was off like a bullet upon the wings 

 of the wind. As I watched it dwindle 

 into a mere speck out over the billows 

 I coveted it yet could not blame the 

 little fellow for fleeing from one of 

 those monsters who had so sorely per- 



