TflE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 63 



ui)on two professional millinery gunners, I think in the summer of 

 18S5, who had two piles about knee high of Least and Common Terns, 

 which they said they wei-e sending to New York, my recollection being 

 tliat they got twelve cents apiece for the birds." 



Dr. Warren describes the same thing on Brigantine in the summer 

 of 1883; he says, "The Least Terns were breeding in considerable 

 numbers, laying their eggs in slight depressions in the dry sand and 

 among the shells on the sand hills along the beach. I obtained the 

 bodies of over 75 of these Terns from two taxidermists, who were col- 

 lecting the skins for New York and Philadelphia dealers, to be used 

 for ladies' hats. These birds were all killed in one day." 



On Seven Mile Beach Mr. C. S. Shick writes in 1890 that the Least 

 Tern is a very common breeder. "I must state, however, that all of 

 the Terns are gradually forsaking their former breeding grounds on 

 account of the new seaside resorts that are being started on all the 

 islands. Formerly many hundred pairs occupied a small sand flat 

 near Sea Isle City, but they are now all gone, not one pair breeding 

 where a few years ago hundreds raised their young." Mr. H. G. Parker 

 in 1888 estimated that there were only 30 pairs left on Seven Mile 

 Beach, and Mr. Philip Laurent (1892) says that some still bred there. 

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

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

 sure were nesting. He saw single birds also on the following dates : 

 Holly Beach, June 1st, 1893; Stone Harbor, August 28th, 1896, and 

 Cape May, August 22d, 1897. 



75 Sterna fuscata Linnaeus. 

 Sooty Tern. 



Adults. — Length, 15-17. Wing, 12. Above, brownish-black ; forehead and 

 line to the eye, white ; outer pair of tail feathers, mainly white ; under parts, 

 white : bill and feet, black. 



Very rare straggler; probably does not now occur. 



Dr. C. C. Abbott gives this species as "rare in summer," with no 

 definite data. One specimen was, however, shot by Mr. A. P. Brown 

 on Long Beach in the "seventies," which I have frequently examined. 



