^°^1910^"] Ferry, Summer Birds of Saskatchewan. 189 



A great flock of Franklin's Gulls was observed on a strip of land between 

 Middle and Little Quill Lakes on July 4. 



7. Sterna hirundo. Common Tern. — ^ These birds were abundant 

 breeders about Quill Lake. Many nesting colonies were found qn islands 

 in the lake. "The nests were nearly all on the grass-covered parts of these 

 islands, though some were located out in the sand or gravel. They were 

 usually only a slight pile of grass-like weed found growing in the lake, 

 sometimes but a mere depression made in the grass or sand. Once in a 

 while there was quite a pretentious effort at nest-building out of tlais same 

 weed, with a well-defined cup to hold the eggs. There were ninety-eight 

 nests in a colony visited June 11. The eggs numbered two and three in a 

 nest in about the proportion of two nests with two to three nests with three. 

 One nest on this island contained four eggs. They all were about one-half 

 incubated. One sky-blue egg was found. 



"While visiting tliis colony at a later day, a heavy protracted rain 

 occurred. Nearly all the terns returned to their eggs, though the writer 

 lay on the ground witliin twenty-five feet of the nearest of them. It was 

 a matter of interest to note their manner of alighting on the nest. They 

 approached it with the usual airy tern-like flight, hovering some twenty 

 feet above for a moment or two. With a sudden downward plunge, they 

 stopped a foot or so above the eggs, fluttering for an instant. Finally they 

 settled gracefully upon the nest, each bird facing the storm." (Barnes.) 



On June 14, another colony on an island was visited. There were 147 

 nests, about four-fifths of wliich contained three eggs each. One June 16 

 another colony containing tliirty-eight nests was found, and subsequently 

 four other colonies were discovered. Nests containing higlily incubated 

 eggs were found on July 4, and many young had been killed by heavy rains. 

 Among these gull and tern colonies, it was the rule to find several duck 

 nests, and frequently one of the Canada Goose. 



8. Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis. Black Tern. — These birds 

 were only occasionally seen at Quill Lake, passing over in twos and threes. 

 On June 29, a flock of fifteen or twenty was seen hovering about the mouth 

 of Pill Creek, a small stream entering Big Quill at its northwest end. Five 

 days of almost continuous rain had preceded, and we inferred that the 

 terns' nesting site in some other locality had been destroyed. 



9. Phalacrocorax auritus. Double-crested Cormorant. — These 

 birds were common at Quill Lake, but very wary. A nesting site of these 

 birds was found in a colony of Ring-billed Gulls, as pre\'iously referred to. 

 As the gulls destroyed the eggs of the cormorants in this case, it seemed 

 improbable that the cormorants had made no effort to nest elsewhere. 

 The location of another such site was long a mystery, and was only cleared 

 up on July 5, when we found some fifty nests of the cormorant on a rocky 

 island near the southern end of Big Quill. Nearby were broken eggs and 

 recently abandoned nests of the W^hite Pelican. The cormorant nests 

 contained mostly three eggs each; a few were fresh, but the greater part 

 liighly incubated. There were a few nests containing young recently 



