Vol. XXII DuTCHER, Report of Committee on Bird Protection. 1-79 



is wrong in principle and wasteful to kill any game birds while 

 they are on their northward migration to their breeding homes. 



Warden system. — Two wardens were employed and were visited 

 by Mr. W. D. W. Miller, a member of the A. O. U., who makes 

 the following exhaustive report. 



"Beach Haven. — On July 6 I arrived at the breeding grounds 

 below Beach Haven, which are under the protection of Captain 

 Rider of the United States Life Saving Station at this point. 

 Here I saw over one hundred Laughing Gulls flying about over 

 the grassy marshes where they breed. Noted less than half as 

 many terns. All of whom I inquired told me that the latter were 

 scarce. Clapper Rails were common. With Captain Rider I 

 searched for nests but was unable to find a single one of any kind. 

 The reason for our failure was, according to the Captain, that the 

 unusually high tides in June had swept away all the eggs and 

 young of the gulls and rails. Why we could find no nests of the 

 tern he was unable to say, as this bird nests on higher ground than 

 the others. 



"Of other birds noted the most interesting was the Piping 

 Plover, and as there were two of these birds together it seems 

 probable that they were breeding. Ospreys are scarce here. 



" Stone Harbor. — I arrived at Captain Ludlam's station at 

 Stone Harbor on July 7, and stayed until the 9th. I found this 

 warden greatly interested in the birds and their preservation, and 

 from all I could hear he had strictly protected the birds in his 

 vicinity. According to him the number of Clapper Rails which 

 started to breed had been very large this year and the gulls had 

 been of about the same abundance as the year before. The num- 

 ber of gulls' nests had been approximately three hundred, but all 

 of these, together with the young rails, had been completely 

 destroyed by the abnormally high tides of June 22 to 25. 



"I saw several hundred gulls at one time over the breeding 

 marshes here. Found none of their nests, however. The captain 

 had been told that tlie gulls do not make a second attempt to breed 

 if their first set is destroyed, and he now believes this to be true, 

 for he had seen no signs of rebuilding since the tides had subsided 

 nearly two weeks before. Clapper Rails were heard commonly, 

 and with little effort we found two nests, containing six eggs each. 



