450 



Howell, Birds of Cobb's Island, Va. 



rAuk 

 LOct. 



island by the thousands, but they have been driven away and 

 neither of them has bred in the locality for years. Willet also 

 were extremely abundant at one time, but this cannot be said of 

 them at present. Following is a list of breeding water birds found 

 upon the island at the three different periods referred to. Mr. 

 Pearson in his paper, failed to give the approximate numbers of 

 birds observed of some of the species, and therefore I am compelled 

 to estimate from the general trend of the article. 



Mr. Pearson Mr. Chapman A. B. Howell 

 1892 1902 1909 



The stories which I heard concerning the wholesale slaughter of 

 Sterna antillarum in past years are almost beyond belief. For ten 

 cents apiece, men shot these birds until their shoulders had become 

 too raw to fire a gun: shot them by the hundreds and the thou- 

 sands as long as there were enough left to pay for a morning stroll. 

 Small wonder that they have been wiped out entirely in this local- 

 ity. The scarcity of the Willet, Oyster-catchers and Wilson's 

 Plovers can be ascribed to the depredations of visiting sportsmen. 

 I searched in the marshes for Forster's Terns, but in vain, for 

 although I caught a glimpse of w r hat may have been one of these 

 birds, I cannot be sure. The Gull-billed Terns seem to be holding 

 their own, as do the Common Terns, which latter are apt to be 

 found nesting anywhere along high water marks, but seem to prefer 

 the colonies of Skimmers. 



