Voi.xxvun 



1911 



Howell, Birds of Cobb's Island, Va. 449 



states: * "The game of Missouri, the ranks of which are thinned 

 as settlements advance, consists of ... . wild pigeons ..." 



In 1848, James Hall, who has written so much of the West says: 2 

 " I have never seen any of those pigeon roosts, which have excited so 

 much curiosity, and where these birds are said to alight in such 

 quantities as to break down the limbs of the trees." Lastly, 

 in 1851, J. W. Bond, in 'Camp Fire Sketches' writes: 3 "Today 

 [August 24, 1851], our French-Canadians and half breeds, who had 

 charge of the provision and baggage-carts, have been shooting 

 pigeons . . . . " 



A COMPARATIVE STUDY AT COBB'S ISLAND, VA. 



BY ALFRED B. HOWELL. 



On June 22, 1909, I arrived at Cobb's Island, Virginia, equipped 

 for a week's stay, having made the trip solely for the purpose of 

 ascertaining the conditions then prevailing among the water birds 

 breeding there, in order to compare them with the facts gathered 

 by Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson in 1892 (Oologist, Vol. IX, No. 8) and 

 Mr. Frank M. Chapman in 1902 (Camps and Cruises of an Ornithol- 

 ogist) in the same locality. I chose this island in preference to 

 others because it was the most accessible of any of the large breed- 

 ing grounds, and because it is uniformly well known. 



There is frequently a change from year to year in the prevalent 

 conditions among a colony of birds, until at the end of a decade, 

 it has often become very pronounced. Sometimes these changes 

 can be ascribed to known causes, and again the reasons are veiled 

 in mystery even to the most observant. 



In the good old days Royal and Least Terns bred upon the 



1 Wetmore, Alphonso. Gazetteer of the State of Missouri. St. Louis, 1837, 

 p. 29. 



2 Hall, James. The West: Its Soil, Surface, and Productions. Cincinnati, 

 1848, p. 124. 



3 Bond, J. W. Minnesota and its Resources, New York, 1853, p. 257. 



