282 Mackay, The Ter?is of Penikese Island, Mass. July 



On becoming convinced that a large colony still existed on 

 Penikese and Gull Islands, I determined to visit it, if the neces- 

 sary permission could be obtained. This permission the owners, 

 the Messrs. Homer, kindly granted, and offered me every facility 

 for carrying out my plans. These plans I communicated to my 

 friend, Mr. Reginald Heber Howe, Jr., a fellow-member of the 

 Nuttall Ornithological Club, who had agreed to accompany and 

 aid me in the investigation, and whose help I desire to here grate, 

 fully acknowledge. We visited and remained on Penikese and 

 Gull Islands June 15 and 16, 1896, checking off and examining 

 every nest and egg we were able to discover; a condensed report 

 of which work is here furnished. It will no doubt surprise the 

 reader, as it did us, when we remember that up to June 10 about 

 all the eggs that were considered good had been taken for food 

 purposes. Next year I hope to see more favorable conditions 

 prevail, and that these beautiful birds will be better protected. 



During our observations on Penikese I noted that in a very 

 large number of instances even the apology of the few straws for 

 a nest to keep the clutch of eggs together were wanting. I also 

 noticed that every little depression in the sward, as also any 

 shallow, saucer-like hollows on the boulders, or at their bases, were 

 utilized by the Terns to deposit eggs in, that they might not be 

 rolled away, the sward being so hard that the birds were unable 

 to excavate an artificial hollow for their reception. At several 

 places on the island some fence rails had been carelessly thrown 

 down on the ground, and even the spaces between them had been 

 made use of by both Sterna hinindo and Sterna dougalli as nesting 

 sites. To me it was a new experience to see these birds, so essen- 

 tially of the beaches and sands, alighting upon and walking about 

 over what was to all intents and purposes an elevated and close 

 cut lawn. 



Neither Mr. Howe nor myself observed a chipped egg or a 

 chick during our visit, which is what might be anticipated under 

 the local custom of taking the eggs till June 10. 



The considerably larger portion of the Terns domiciled on 

 Penikese Island are Wilson's ; with them, mixed indiscriminately, 

 are a goodly number of Roseates, breeding. I failed in detecting 

 the presence of the Arctic Tern (^Sterna paradisc^a). Gull Island 



