48 DUTCHER, Pyotection of Gulls and Terns. Ljm. 



sell them. These two men made $10 to $15 a day in former years, 

 shooting birds for the milliners. 



" It would please you, I am sure, and all members of the A. O. U., 

 to see the thousands of gulls and terns feeding off here in the har- 

 bor. From my investigations this day I feel quite confident no 

 serious work is being carried on against the birds protected by law 

 in this region. 



" October 9. ^ — I have returned from North Truro and report as 

 follows: There is very little shooting being done in the region of 

 North Truro and Provincetown at this time. I saw Small, who 

 now does little else but shoot; but he is practically the only man 

 who does. He is apparently a law-abiding fellow, who shoots a 

 great deal in season and kills many birds. Last year on October i, 

 he told me, when the close season ended for gulls, he shot 375 

 birds that day, and about the same number through the rest of the 

 week. He shipped the birds to a New York market, having been 

 promised 12^ cents each, but from the bottom falling out of the 

 market, as he expressed it, probably due to the A. O. U. and Audu- 

 bon work, and because of the great supply, for he says every gun- 

 ner on the Cape shipped birds, he never received any pay, and his 

 loss was great on ammunition. He said he guessed shooting birds 

 for hats was over." 



New York. — The colonies of Common and Roseate Terns on 

 Flat Hammock, Wicopesset, Little Pine, and South Dumpling 

 Islands, near Fishers Island, were in charge of J. S. Casey to 

 June 20, when he was taken sick and had to give up the work. 

 Subsequently Mr. J. T. Fowler, keeper of the North Dumpling 

 Light, assumed charge. 



Mr. James H. Hill, our fellow member, who has charge of these 

 breeding grounds reports as follows : 



"I have discovered a small colony of Wilson's Terns {Sterna 

 hh-iindo)^ five pairs on Goose Rock near Niantic Bay, Conn. This 

 is a new nesting site. 



"Mr. Philip J. McCook, an associate member, writes me in 

 regard to the two small colonies of terns on the islands in Niantic 

 Bay. The terns again used Waterford and Two-Tree Islands this 

 year : he reports noting i 2 to 13 pairs nesting on Waterford Island 

 the last week in June, and on Two-Tree Island in first week of 



