THE MISSISSIPPI RESERVES 307 



scrub, but no trees. Most of it was bare sand. 

 We saw three coon tracks, two being those of 

 the three-footed animals; evidently the damaged 

 leg was now completely healed and was used 

 like the others, punching a round hole in the 

 sand. We saw one coon, at dusk, hunting for 

 oysters at the water s edge. 



The gulls and skimmers were nesting on this 

 island in great numbers, but the terns were many 

 times more plentiful. There were thousands 

 upon thousands of them. Their breeding-places 

 were strung in a nearly straight line for a couple 

 of miles along the sand flats. A mile off, from our 

 boat, we were attracted by their myriad forms, 

 glittering in the brilliant sunlight as they rose 

 and fell and crossed and circled over the nest 

 ing-places. The day was bright and hot, and 

 the sight was one of real fascination. As we 

 approached a breeding colony the birds would 

 fly up, hover about, and resettle when we drew 

 back a sufficient distance. The eggs, singly, or 

 rarely in pairs, were placed on the bare sand, 

 with no attempt at a nest, the brooding bird 

 being sometimes but a few inches, sometimes 

 two or three feet, from the nearest of its sur 

 rounding neighbors. The colonies of breeders 

 were scattered along the shore for a couple of 

 miles, each one being one or two hundred yards, 



