Vol. XVIII 

 igoi 



I DuTCHER, Projection of Gulls and Terns. oQ 



Gull Island and Race Rock Lighthouse, leading from Long 

 Island Sound to the ocean ; here there are large numbers of 

 schools of bluefish, mackerel and menhaden, as well as of the 

 smaller fry, smelts and capelin. Some of the fishermen from 

 Long Island and Connecticut, not content with a good catch of 

 bluefish, the schools of which are indicated by the darting and 

 hovering terns, seek to add to their sport and to enrich their 

 own and the plume dealers' pockets by shooting their feathered 

 benefactors, which they sell at ten cents each. Such destruction 

 should be stopped, or the terns will be exterminated, as the birds 

 are killed while caring for their young. 



" Robbed of their eggs and shot by plume hunters on their 

 breeding and feeding grounds at the north, shot all along their 

 line of migration, slaughtered in their winter homes in southern 

 waters, the thought of it all makes one heartsick, and the wonder 

 is that any terns are left. 



" You may count on me as a champion of the terns, gulls and 

 ospreys in this locality, and I shall use every means in my power 

 to protect them." 



The other colonies of Terns left in New York State are located 

 on Gardiners Island, and are doubtless a portion of the colony 

 which was driven from Great Gull Island when that place was 

 occupied by the Government as the site for one of the new fortifi- 

 cations. 



This Gardiners Island colony divided into two parts, one locating 

 at the north and the other at the south end of the island. Two 

 wardens were employed, as the colonies are quite large and some 

 distance apart. Capt. C. W. Rackett looked after the north colony, 

 and reports that early in the season two parties attempted to take 

 eggs, and succeeded in getting about fifty before he could prevent 

 them. He warned them that arrest would follow any further at- 

 tempt at egging, after which he was not troubled by any further 

 efforts to disturb the birds. He estimates that at the end of the 

 season there were at least two thousand or more birds in the colony. 

 He also states that the terns or, as he calls them, Blue Fish Gulls, 

 are of the greatest value to the fishermen when they are looking for 

 school-fish, such as bluefish, weak fish, bonita, etc. These pred- 

 atory fish are chasing the small fry which they drive to the surface. 



