Vol. XIX"! DuTCHER, Protectiofi of Gulls and Terns. 49 



1902 J 



July he counted about 35 terns there, but found only seven nests 

 containing from one to three eggs each. He thinks the squatting 

 on the island by people of the mainland to secure a title to it, the 

 digging out and cleaning the well, and the planting and cultivation 

 of a small potato patch has had the tendency to drive away most 

 of the terns from their last year's breeding grounds. 



" Mr. Frank Palmer, resident of Stonington, nearest Liddy 

 Island, told me that the terns nested on the island this year, he 

 noting 5 nests, and, further, that he had seen a pair nesting on 

 Rocky Island, a short distance from Liddy Island ; nest contained 

 three eggs. The last is also a new nesting site. 



" Flat Hammock. It was my intention, and I had made all 

 arrangements to fully protect the breeding birds, having received, 

 through the kindness of Mr. Charles W. Gordon, the Superintend- 

 ent, and the courtesy of the Messrs. E. M. and W. Fergusons, the 

 owners of both Flat Hammock and South Dumpling Islands, full 

 permission to erect a shanty on South Dumpling, for the shelter 

 of the warden, and I here wish to acknowledge their kindness and 

 co-operation, but owing to the bad weather the latter part of May, 

 and the inability to land materials on the island on account of 

 rough water, and the subsequent sickness of Mr. Casey, our first 

 warden, the middle of June, I was unable to carry out my plans. 

 I therefore reappointed Capt. Fowler, our warden of last year, 

 who cared for the birds the rest of the season. 



" Capt. Fowler estimates that we raised, at the lowest calculation, 

 over 1200 birds, counting Wicopesset, Flat Hammock, South 

 Dumpling and Little Pine Island, and I think he is correct as he 

 wrote he counted on June 20, on Flat Hammock, 663 eggs, mostly 

 Wilson's Terns, and a few Roseates. 



"Mr. Casey, our first warden, advised me in early June that a 

 few terns were nesting on South Dumpling where we had intended 

 to build a shanty. I found on my visit, June 20, 16 pairs nesting 

 on an open space on the west slope of the island, so that after all 

 we gained something by not building the shanty. 



" South Hammock or South Dumpling is a short distance from 

 Flat Hammock, about four acres in area, and rises quite abruptly 

 from the water fifteen to sixteen feet, with not much beach. The 

 top of the island is flat, grassy, with some bushes, and if the terns 



