126 DuTCHER, Report of Committee on Bird Protection. '^"'^ 



under a clump of grass, weeds, or the cedar bushes with which the key is 

 nearly covered. Mr. Job and I estimated that there were about 3,600 of the 

 sooties and about 400 noddies, but as a great many eggs were deposited 

 after he left, I think there must have been at least 5,000 of the sooties and 

 600 noddies. There are no other birds that nest, although the man-o'-war 

 birds roost there; there were about 300 of them, but they do not molest 

 the gulls in any way, nor do they eat the eggs or young, as reported ; 

 the gulls easily drive them away when they wish, as they can whip the 

 man-o'-war birds easily. I did not see a single crow while I was at 

 Tortugas, nor are there any animals of any kind on Bird Key to eat the 

 eggs or young. The only enemy they seem to have are the sea and land 

 crabs with which the island is infested ; they undoubtedly eat a great 

 many eggs. 



The birds are partly protected by the efforts of Capt. Geo. A. Bicknell, 

 Commandant of the Naval Station at Key West, of which Tortugas is a 

 part ; he is a fine officer and has done everything he possibly could to 

 assist me in protecting the birds. An order was posted by his direction 

 at the Fort and the Key, prohibiting any one from landing without 

 special permission. If the terns are protected during the time that they 

 are laying and until the eggs hatch, they will increase very fast, as the 

 mortality is very small. 



The birds arrive at the Key about the middle of April and leave from 

 August 15 to the first of September; I am told that they all leave at one 

 time and in the night. The eggs were all hatched on the date I left the 

 Key, July 15. 



Our fellow member, Rev. H. K. Job, who accompanied Mr. 

 Burton, supplements the statements of the warden in the following 

 letter : 



I went with Mr. Burton, the new warden, to Bird Key, Dry Tortugas, 

 arriving there May 19. I was with him the first four days of his stay, 

 instiucting him in scientific observation and in photography. 



There are two species of birds breeding, the Sooty Tern and the Noddy. 

 The former are by far the more abundant, numbering, at a guess, five to 

 six thousand. Of the Noddies, I should say, there were hardly a thou- 

 sand. There were also some Man-o'-war Birds resorting to the key, but 

 not breeding. 



At the time of our arrival, most of the Noddies had a fresh e.^^ in each 

 nest, and perhaps about half the Sooty Terns had also a fresh ^%%' 

 Some eggs had already been taken, it was said, by a party. This, how- 

 ever, did no damage, for by the end of my stay, the 22nd, nearly all 

 seemed to have laid, and they were protected thereafter. No noddy had 

 more than one egg, and in only three of the Sooty Terns' nests, out of 

 thousands inspected, did I find as many as two. 



