278 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



ure formed by the ramparts, an area of some ten 

 acres, are barracks and officers' quarters. In one 

 part there was a very considerable grove of button- 

 wood trees, perhaps half an acre in extent, and 

 scattered about were some forty cocoanut palms, 

 as well as single buttonwood trees of fairly good 

 size, but not more than fifty feet high. None 

 of these trees extend above the high walls of the 

 fort, which rise fully sixty feet above the surface 

 of the water. 



Three-quarters of a mile to the west of Garden 

 Key is a small Key, oval in shape, containing 

 about eight acres, which is known as Bird Key. 

 Here myriads of terns come annually to breed, 

 nesting both on the ground and in the low 

 stunted bushes that shade it. I was not so 

 fortunate as to see the terns nesting, nor were 

 they present during my stay; but my friend, 

 Dr. Goodman, who was stationed here in those 

 days, and who undertook subsequent investiga- 

 tions for me, told me that shortly after I left the 

 birds arrived in great numbers. The noddies 

 and sooty terns arrive at the Dry Tortugas about 

 April 20, but at first remain only a few days and 

 then disappear, to return some days later in greatly 

 increased numbers, when breeding is almost im- 

 mediately commenced. They leave early in the 

 fall, and are not seen here, except an occasional 

 one, until the following season. Since the Span- 



