Vol. XVIIl 

 igoi 



j 'DvTCU'KK, Protection of Gulls and Terfis. 8*7 



" On the eastern shore is a small, rocky island near East 

 Harbor, called by the natives Little Pine Island. Here there 

 were, on June i8, five pairs of Terns nesting (2 nests with 3 

 eggs, 3 with 2) ; all were hatched. Further to the westward 

 one finds Flat Hammock, a low, sandy, shingly, crescent-shaped 

 island near the^South Dumpling, and about three quarters of a 

 mile from North Dumpling Light, kept by Capt. J. T. Fowler, 

 and a little over a mile from Fishers Island. Flat Hammock is 

 the largest breeding ground of the terns on Fishers Island Sound. 

 On June 24, Capt. Fowler counted 783 eggs in singles, twos and 

 threes. On June 27, I went over and recounted, to verify the 

 number, and found 92 nests with 3 eggs, 213 with 2, 27 with i, i 

 with 4, and one white e^g, making in all 734 ; and we think we may 

 have missed quite a number. We noted 14 or 15 young, and 

 many eggs were 'pipped,' in all representing a colony of 700 

 birds. Notices were also put up on this island early in June, and 

 I engaged Capt. Fowler, to become the guardian of the terns. 

 With protection for one month, from June 15 to July 15, the 

 terns did well and we estimated the number of birds hatched to 

 be between four and five hundred, mostly Wilson's. This is a 

 larger number than were ever before successfully raised. We note 

 that between the first of June and July is the time when the eggers, 

 boating parties and summer boarders at Fishers Island commit 

 most of their depredations on the poor defenseless terns. On 

 two or three windy days, it was impossible for Capt. Fowler to 

 reach the island, and quite a number of eggs were taken by the 

 aforesaid, navigating larger craft. On the whole, the partial pro- 

 tection given the terns, shows what could be accomplished if full 

 protection were afforded the birds, as they have no enemies save 

 man. I would also add that the number of nesting birds on these 

 two islands increased from one or two dozen pairs to between six 

 and seven hundred birds in 1897, and without any doubt they 

 were a portion of the great colony of terns which left Great 

 Gull Island that year. 



"I am of the opinion that if, another season, some one 

 were located on South Dumpling, the birds would receive 

 better protection, as it is only about two -or three minutes row 

 from there to the Flat Hammock, and even row boats could be 



