128 Bowdish, Ornithological Notes from Audubon Wardens. [April 



About the last part of May there was a storm and high tides that 

 destroyed many of the Mud Hens' (Clapper Rails) eggs. They 

 laid again, May 25 to 28; high tides drowned many young Marsh 

 Hens. The Black-headed Gull (Laughing Gull) and Strikers 

 (Terns) are as plentiful as last season. The Flood Gulls (Black 

 Skimmers) are on the increase, but the August storm, I think, has 

 drowned many of that bird, as they principally nest on an outer 

 island called Pig Island. I notice this storm has washed that 

 island almost flat, and there are many young ones not yet able to 

 fly. — /. E. Johnson, Hog Island, Virginia, August 29, 1908. 



I think that the following birds that formerly nested here in 

 numbers are now nesting further south : Willets, Sea-crows (Oyster- 

 catchers?) and Black-headed Gulls (Laughing Gulls). I hear 

 that 20 miles down the bay they are spoken of as being unusually 

 abundant. The only bird here that seems more abundant than 

 usual is the Mud Hen (Clapper Rail) ; there has not been so much 

 egging done for the last two or three years. Willets, Sea-crows 

 and Black-headed Gulls never did nest as plentifully on this 

 beach as on others further south, possibly because it is so low, and 

 they like higher beaches where there is an abundance of fine shells. 

 About every six or seven years we have a high tide that seems to 

 sweep the shells off the beach. — Howard F. Jones, Assateague 

 Beach, Virginia, August 29, 1908. 



The increase in Marsh Hens, (Clapper Rails) has been very large. 

 It is the opinion of all with whom I have talked that more young of 

 all species have been raised this season than ever before. — J. A. D. 

 Savage, Wachapreague, Virginia, Sept. 8, 1908. 



The Legislature, repealing the law preventing the shooting of 

 Robin Snipe, was, I think, responsible for the Gulls (Laughing) 

 failing to nest near my station this season, owing to the wholesale 

 shooting of them by residents. — L. F. Taylor, Flander Island and 

 Metomkin Beach, Virginia, Sept. 3, 1908. 



