312 General Notes. [f^^ 



GENERAL* NOTES. 



Cabot's Tern {Sterna sandvicensis acuflavida) Breeding in North Caro- 

 lina. — In Pamlico Sound, North CaroHna, about ten miles westward from 

 the \illage of Ocracoke lies Royal Shoal Island. It is little more than a. 

 lump of sand and shells rearing its back scarcely three feet above high 

 water. In area it is rather less than four acres. This island has for 

 many years been a popular re-sort for breeding sea-birds. For five years 

 the Audubon Society has protected them from the lavages of the feather 

 hunter and egg-eating fishennan, and as a result the colony has largely 

 increased. Laughing Gulls, Black Skimmers and Wilson's Terns breed 

 here in numbers, and the Least Terns are perhaps more numerous about 

 the island in siunmer than at any other breeding place on the Atlantic 

 coast. The most numerous species, however, is the Royal Tern, and about 

 3500 young are believed to have been raised here the past season. On 

 my last annual trip of inspection I reached Royal Shoal on June 25, 1907, 

 and soon discovered a new bird breeding here. Closer inspection revealed 

 the new-comer to be Sterna sandvicensis acuflavida. The nests of this 

 bird, over twenty of which I counted, were merely slight excavations in 

 the sand. These were all located among the closely clustered nests of 

 the Royal Tern with which bird the Cabot's Tern seemed to associate con- 

 stantly. Like their large neighbors, they were very tame and I easily 

 photographed individuals at a distance of not over fifteen feet. Later in 

 the day, by exercising patience, I crawled over the bare beach to within. 

 seven feet of one as it sat on its eggs, and for .several minutes we observed 

 each other at leisure. During the course of my approach the bird fre- 

 quently left the ne.st and hovered above it but quickly settled again when 

 my movements ceased. Warden Jannett, who guards the island, reported 

 that sixty- four Cabot's Tern's eggs were laid during the season. This 

 bird has not previously been noticed breeding among the protected col- 

 onies in the State, and in fact, so far as I am aware, there have been no 

 records of its occurrence in North Carolina, except one reported by Dr. 

 Louis B. Bishop (MS.) from Pea Island, August 22, 1904.— T. Gilbert 

 Pe.\rson, Greensboro, N. C. 



Lead Poisoning in Ducks. — An interesting condition of affairs, which 

 nevertheless promises to have serious results in the future, came to my 

 notice during the past hunting season. The Misqually Flats, one of the 

 numerous large marshes of Puget Sound, has been famous for its duck 

 shooting almost ever since the first settlement of the State. Many tons 

 of shot must have been showered over its broad expanse, but until this 

 year no harm from this source has come to any ducks that did not get 

 it direct from a shot gun. Consequently I was surprised to discover the 

 following conditions: — My attention was directed by a game-keeper to 



