4.0 Mackay, Terns of Muskeget Island. fjan 



and I contained five eggs. On South Beach, 4 nests contained 

 one egg ; 5 contained two eggs ; i contained three eggs. No nests 

 containing four or five eggs respectively were observed. 



By a comparison witli the former summary it will be seen that 80 

 per cent, of the June 15 and 16 eggs were hatched by July i and 2. 

 The difference in the number of eggs observed in 1893 and 1894 

 may be accounted for by the fact that I did not visit South Point 

 or South Point Island in the former year ; nor was the search so 

 exhaustive as in the latter year. There are also many more Terns 

 this year (1894) than in 1893. 



I found my impressions of 1893 regarding the manner in which 

 the eggs rested in the nest verified, there being no regularity 

 except as heretofore stated. 



In order to arrive at a better identification of the eggs of the 

 Roseate and Wilson's Terns, I gathered a large series (one 

 hundred and fifty) on Gravelly Island, which seemed this year to 

 be exclusively occupied, as far as I could judge, by the Roseate 

 Terns ; and I also investigated most carefully the eggs in nearly 

 every nest found on that island. As a rule the eggs of the 

 Roseate Tern have greater cubical contents than those of Wilson's 

 Tern, being longer and tapering gradually to the smaller end. This, 

 however, is not always the case, some being smaller than others, 

 and some taper quite abruptly. Some are covered all over with 

 small, irregular brownish marks, others have very small spots of 

 brownish on a dirty white ground, as also on a coffee-colored 

 ground ; some have scarcely any spots on a dull white ground ; 

 occasionally one is seen of a greenish ground color ; some are 

 splashed all over with large brown spots, others with the spots 

 barely showing through the surface, as it were ; occasionally one 

 is seen which is very large at the greater end, tapering suddenly 

 towards the smaller. They are almost invariably well covered all 

 over with irregular marks or spots of brownish color. There are 

 some eggs which have a ring of brown spots blended together 

 around the larger end, somewhat similar to some eggs of Sterna 

 hirujido, while on others the brownish spots intermingle at the 

 larger end, thus making it the most prominently marked portion 

 of the egg. I have also noted a few of an oval-round shape. I 

 have one egg which is covered with small, pale purple spots. 



