Vol. XIX 



IQ02 



DuTCHER, Protection of Gulls and Terns. 



States Quarantine Station on Fisherinans Island, which is very 

 close to the Isaacs, while they are about three miles away from 

 me. I think it would be a good idea to ask the Marine Hospital 

 service to send an order to their caretaker regarding this matter; 

 there should have been several thousand birds raised whereas there 

 were only a few hundred. There have been no eggs taken nor 

 birds killed on Smiths Island while I have been warden, and there 

 are more birds now than I have seen in fifteen years." 



All of the wardens in Maryland and Virginia were visited very 

 early in August by our fellow-members, Messrs. William H. Fisher 

 and Frank C. Kirkwood, the latter of wdiom made a long and 

 detailed report, from which the following interesting items are 

 extracted : 



'' I have just returned from the inspection trip and the results 

 are most satisfactory, and, allowing for the difference of season, I 

 think a 50 per cent increase over last year is a conservative aver- 

 age. At some points it was more, at some less. 



"With the waders, however, it was different; they were scarce. 

 The Willet, which breeds all along this shore, was nearly absent 

 and comparatively few Clapper Rails were heard ; this may be 

 accounted for by the storms in May which put very high tides over 

 the marshes. 



" All the men report that no shooting was done and but very 

 little, if any, egging. 



■' I a,m greatly pleased with the wardens ; they all greeted me 

 by name, and said they thought I had died, as the last they had 

 heard of me after the trip of 1900 was that I was very sick. They 

 are all very enthusiastic over the increase in the birds. Mr. 

 Fisher secured a number of excellent photographs, and we had 

 some peculiar experiences, one of which was a sudden storm which 

 overtook us; for fierceness of wind, rain, hail, thunder and light- 

 ning it surpassed anything I ever saw, and within five minutes our 

 temperature changed from a dripping perspiration to a chill. That 

 night, instead of reaching our destination, we were compelled at 

 10.30 p. M. to break into an oyster watch-house in the bay and 

 remain there until daylight. One night the heat and mosquitoes 

 were so bad that we climbed to the platform under the lantern of 

 the old lighthouse on Smiths Island, 150 feet up, where we passed 



