^"'rs^ 111 ] Mackay, Terns of Muskeget Island. 47 



this form, of which Dr. Merrill has sent me nine specimens from 

 Fort Sherman, is apparently intermediate between M. f. montana 

 and M. f. guttata. It differs from both, however, in the ground 

 color of its upper parts which are generally of a dark but clear 

 ashy brown very unlike the faded grayish brown of mouta»a and 

 with but little of the rich, dull rusty which suffuses the plumage of 

 guttata. Of the thirteen specimens of merrilli one taken in 

 autumn affords the nearest approach to guttata. The spring 

 birds (some of which were collected in April and May) are all 

 essentially similar to the type of merrilli. 



Dr. Merrill writes me that this Song Sparrow breeds at Fort 

 Sherman where he took four nests and sets of eggs in 1895. 



THE TFJR.NS OF MUSKEGET ISLAND, MASSACHU- 

 SETTS. PART II. 



BY GEORGE H. MACKAY 



Referring my readers to 'The Auk' for January, 1895, page 

 32, I now desire to put before them under the same title, some 

 further data collected during the past summer. It had been my 

 intention to visit Muskeget this year on the same dates as last, 

 that comparisons might be better made of results. Had my 

 purpose been carried out, which it was not, such would not have 

 proved conclusive, for the reason that although the Terns arrived 

 a week earlier than they did in 1894 and 1893, and ten days 

 earlier than in 1892, they apparently did not commence to lay 

 their eggs as early this season as last, for it was not until May 28, 

 1895, that the first two nests, each containing one egg, were dis- 

 covered, notwithstanding Mr. Sandsbury had taken daily walks 

 over Muskeget Island proper for this purpose, commencing on 

 May 20. The first eggs noted in 1894 were found on May 21. 



'Read before the Nuttall Ornithological Club, October 21, 1895. 



