CO DuTCHER, Protection oj Gulls and Terns. Ljan^ 



get to using it regularly it will be a less exposed nesting place than 

 Flat Hammock. A cabin boat for the use of the warden, anchored 

 midway betw^een the islands, would help to give full protection to 

 the breeding birds, as we now have a new difficulty to contend with, 

 viz. : many of the lobster and fishing boats and pleasure launches 

 are now provided with small gasoline motors, and it has happened 

 several times that boats of this character have run up to and made 

 a landing on Flat Hammock and gone away before the warden 

 could launch his boat to warn them off. 



" Capt. James Smith, of the steamer ' Manhansett,' who makes 

 daily trips to Greenport, Long Island, and whose route is through 

 the ' Race,' tells me that he has noted a larger number of terns or 

 mackerel gulls this year than usual, a thousand at a time, and this 

 is the report of all the fishermen, lobstermen and blue fishing par- 

 ties this season, and also of the soldiers on Great Gull Island, the 

 former home of the terns. My own observations during my trips 

 of inspection make me positive that no birds have been shot by 

 plume hunters in my vicinity. 



'' There is not the least shadow of a doubt but that the terns are 

 steadily increasing in numbers on Long Island Sound through the 

 special protection given them in the breeding season, and under 

 the wise and beneficent A. O. U. laws enacted for their protec- 

 tion in the different States. 



"I said last year ' You may count me in as a champion of the 

 gulls, terns and ospreys in this locality, and I shall use every 

 means in my power to protect them,' and I shall try to place them 

 in the protected list. The A. O. U. model is now a law of Con- 

 necticut, thanks to an intelligent legislature, the majority of 

 whom were farmer representatives, and a Governor who did his 

 duty, together with the hearty cooperation of the Hon. A. B. Cal- 

 kins, Chairman of the Committee on Fisheries and Game. Now 

 all wild birds are protected except hawks (Fish Hawks not in- 

 cluded). Great Horned Owls {Bubo virginianus). Crows {Corvus 

 americaiiiis), and English Sparrows. Surely Connecticut is in line 

 with her sister States in the enactment of just laws for the protec- 

 tion of birds." 



The two colonies of terns {Steriia hirundo et dougalli) on Gard- 

 iners Island were in charge of the same wardens who cared for 



