THE SEA AND THE DESERT 181 



gulls, ring-billed and herring gulls were passing 

 to their more northern home. The outer beaches 

 were the resort, not only of many terns, but there 

 too came oyster-catchers, which bred in the sand 

 dunes just back of the beach, and whose nests 

 were readily discovered by the regular trail the 

 birds made in their frequent journeys to the 

 ocean's edge. 



Among the terns breeding were the gull-billed 

 tern, Foster's tern, the common tern, the least 

 tern, the royal tern, and the black skimmer. Now 

 and then one met with representatives of the sand- 

 wich tern, and at least a dozen pair of Caspian 

 terns nested each season. The breeding colo- 

 nies of the several sorts were clearly defined, the 

 different kinds not associating together to any 

 extent. 



My purpose in coming here was not only to 

 make adequate collections of the eggs and adult 

 birds, but more especially to procure large series 

 of the fledglings in various stages of their early 

 life. In this work, thanks to a good assistant, I 

 was eminently successful. 



My dog Grouse, who was with me, aided 

 largely, finding numbers of nests and young birds 

 that would otherwise have been overlooked. 

 Posted just outside of some piece of sedge-grass, 

 I had only to command him to go in and fetch 

 out young birds. He did this kind of work with- 



