tA DuTCHER, Protection of Gulls atid Terns. Ljan- 



trict were carefully watched over, and he estimates that the in- 

 crease was as follows : Black-headed Gulls {Lams atrkilla) , about 

 4000 ; Black Skimmers {Rynchops nigra) about 4000 ; Terns 

 {Sterna hinindo et forsteri), •about 600; Gull-billed Terns {Gelo- 

 i-Jiclidon nilqfica) , about 300 ; Oyster-catchers {Hccmatoptis 

 paHiatiis), ahowt j^ \ Willets {Symphemia semipalmata), 4; Wilson's 

 Plover {^gialitis 7viIsonia)^ 2 ; Marsh Hens {Ralhis crepitans)., 

 abovit 2,000. 



He reports that about 1000 gulls' eggs, 300 terns' eggs, and 

 1000 marsh hens' eggs were taken by fishermen and others before 

 the close season commenced. After that date none were taken ; 

 " I did not have as much trouble," he says, " this year as last. I 

 think the Black-headed Gulls, Skimmers, Common Terns, and 

 Gull-billed Terns have doubled in number since last year. The 

 day after Mr. Kirkwood left I caught three men very neatly. I 

 was in my lookout and saw a boat coming, and as I was satisfied 

 I knew what they were after, I went up the beach and hid in the 

 grass where I thought they would land. As soon as they landed 

 I rose up with my gun right in front of them and asked them what 

 they were after. At first they said ' nothing,' but I soon made 

 them own up that they had come for young birds. They prom- 

 ised if I would let them off that they would never come again. I 

 have not seen a man on the beach since. A great many boatmen 

 like to eat the young Skimmers." 



Mr. G. D. Hitchens, of the Smiths Island Life Saving Station, 

 was in charge of a district about twelve miles long by from one 

 hundred yards to one and one half miles wide, consisting of beach, 

 marsh, and islands. The increase in the birds in his charge, as 

 near as he can estimate, was as follows : Common Tern {Sterna 

 /lirnndo), about 1,000; Laughing Gull {Lams atricilla) , about 

 1,000 ; American Oyster-catcher {LLceniatopus palliatus)., about 20 ; 

 Wilson's Plover {^gialitis 7ai/so>iia), about 6 ; Clapper Rail 

 {I^allus crepitans), 'showX. 5,000; Willet {Symphemia semipalmata) ., 

 about 75 ; Royal Tern {Sterna ma\i?na), about 100; Black Skim- 

 mer {Rynchcps nigra), about 200. 



"No eggs were taken on Smiths Island, but on the Isaacs all 

 the eggs were taken until the last of July. I could not catch the 

 one who did it but was told he was the caretaker of the United 



