^°*'l910 ] BowDiSH, Bird PJiolographing in the Carolina^. 309 



tinguish the identity of the bird, and development alone revealed it 

 and established a new breeding record for North Carolina. Some 

 photographs of the Prothonotary Warbler were also secured, and a 

 nest of the Pied-billed Grebe with four eggs was found. 



June 22 was a comparatively uneventful day, and on the 23d we 

 started for Royal Shoals. We spent that afternoon in a heron rook- 

 ery near Beaufort, where the Louisiana, Little Blue, Green, Black- 

 crowned Night and a few Snowy Herons had evidently nested in 

 considerable numbers. The growth was taller and the nests at 

 greater height than at the Secessionville rookery. The j'oung were 

 so well developed that they were able to travel well ahead of us, over 

 the bush tops, as we forced our way through the tangled growth. 

 Some shooting was reported to have been done in this rookery and 

 the remains of a few dead birds were seen. 



On the following morning the Audubon patrol boat ' Dutcher', cap- 

 tained by W^arden Jenette, came in and we started on her for Royal 

 Shoals, reaching there late that afternoon. This low sand spit, 

 which had been a breeding place for a colony of Royal Terns, esti- 

 mated in 1908 at 7,000 birds, had been washed over in the midst of 

 that breeding season, with great loss to the birds, and the Royal 

 Terns had not appeared in 1909 vmtil the night before we reached 

 there, when the first stragglers were arriving. There were about 250 

 Common Terns, 200 Least Terns, 200 Black Skimmers and 100 

 Laughing Gulls nesting on the island, which was a very narrow 

 fishhook-shaped formation, with small bushes, weeds and grass at 

 the shank end, where the Laughing Gulls bred. The Skimmers' 

 nests ^yere also mostly in that vicinity, as well as the principal 

 colony of Least Terns, with nests of the Common Tern interspersed 

 and also scattered about the hook. The Skimmers were just com- 

 mencing to lay, though one nest was seen with five eggs. Most of 

 the Connnon Terns' nests had three eggs, some two and one, and one 

 nest held six eggs, undoubtedly laid by two birds. A few Least 

 Terns had hatched; most of the nests had two eggs and a few one. 

 The Laughing Gulls had nests of two and three eggs, and W^arden 

 Jenette reported that some young had hatched and were hiding in 

 the weeds. 



We remained at Royal Shoals till about three p. m. the next day, 

 June 25. More Roval Terns arrived and thirtv-six were counted 



