Vol. XXI 

 1904 



I DuTCHER, Report of Cojnmittee on Bird Protection. I S ^ 



"At Great Spoon Island we found only Petrels, Spotted Sand- 

 pipers, Song and Savanna Sparrows. At Little Spoon Island, we 

 found two pairs of terns and about four hundred adult gulls, which 

 had hatched well, and seemed to have suffered little or no dis- 

 turbance. 



"Gulls were still breeding on the Black and the White Horse 

 Ledges, but no young were seen nor were any empty nests 

 observed. Cormorants were present but no nests were found. 



" At Spirit Ledge no gulls nor terns were breeding, but we saw 

 four Eider Ducks and found three nests, the eggs in neither of 

 which seemed advanced in incubation, while one of them con- 

 tained an incomplete set of eggs. A few Sea Pigeons were 

 probably breeding, but it was impossible to find a nest. 



" At Black Rock we found two gulls' nests with eggs, and four 

 Sea Pigeons were probably breeding. 



"On Heron Island we found a colony of gulls numbering a 

 thousand or more. This colony was in excellent condition, very 

 few eggs being found. The gulls were tame and the young were 

 abundant. We found two Night Heron nests here, and it seems 

 likely that this bird may increase. 



" At Haulibut Ledge about one hundred Common Terns were 

 breeding on the southeastern ledge. No young were seen. Here 

 we saw no Eider Ducks nor any nest, but Capt. Conary informed 

 me that notwithstanding the fact that none have bred here for a 

 few years, he discovered a nest this year with five eggs Avhich he 

 believed would hatch. As I found the excrement of a brood of 

 young birds, not terns, in several spots under flat rocks on the 

 shore, there seems little doubt that this nest hatched as predicted. 



"In concluding with Jericho Bay, I found that while the birds 

 seem to be shifting to spme extent, they are also collecting into 

 better colonies for protection, and are increasing quite rapidly. 

 The Southern Island colony is practically a new one and probably 

 a permanent one. At both Saddle-back and Haulibut Ledge the 

 increase since your first report is gratifying. 



" The same may be said of the Herring Gulls, /. <?., they are 

 uniting and increasing quite rapidly ; while decreasing on the 

 smaller ledges, for instance White Ledge, and disappearing from 

 Spirit Ledge, on Heron Island the increase is decided and grati- 



