

wnsT] THE WEEPECKETS 147 



bird will drop, plunging into the waters after an unlucky fish. As 

 the bird rises, its fellows are quick to note its success or failure ; if a 

 fish is held firmly in its bill they immediately give chase and each 

 attempts to snatch the fish. If it is dropped, in the bird's attempt 

 to escape from the pursuers, they give up the chase with cries of 

 seeming mockery. 



Tall dark stakes with ropes stretched between them, silhouted 

 against the sky mark the fish traps. The tops of these posts offer 

 resting places where perch Gulls and Terns who seem to have 

 become wise as to the best fishing grounds and select these as 

 places of vantage from which to dive. 



When the gravelly beach on the north side of Weepecket, the 

 largest of the three islands, is approached there is a whir of white 

 wings, accompanied by a din of shrill grating sounds, which seem 

 to carry warnings and threats, as the Terns, disturbed by the noise 

 of landing, rise into the air from the beach and nearby grass. The 

 birds do not fly away but continue to circle over head, while keep- 

 ing up their incessant irritating noise. 



The boat anchored, one can wend his way along the sandy beach 

 just above tide water, always at the vortex of a whirling mass of 

 Terns which swoop down and utter their cries in close proximity to 

 one's head. By degrees the ears become accustomed to the sound 

 and the necessity of watching one's steps as well as the sight before 

 one causes the attention to be centered on the ground. Eggs are 

 everywhere; a broad and general estimate would indicate thous- 

 ands of nests containing from two to three eggs each. On the 

 sand, it is evident that the birds have made no attempt to construct 

 a nest as the eggs are in groups of twos and threes lying among the 

 stones. On the drift which consists of sticks, weeds, dried eel- 

 grass and sea weed very crude nests have been made by hollowing 

 cut a slight depression in the drift. The nests are scattered all 

 over the drift in a very precarious manner as it would seem to one 

 accustomed to seeing this part of the island later in the season, 

 when one good wave would sweep them away. However, this is 

 the shore least exposed to storms during the summer season. The 

 irregular placing of the nests with hardly a foot's space between 

 them requires care to avoid stepping on the eggs. When the eggs 

 are laid on the sand among the stones it is hard to distinguish them 

 frcm the stones. As one proceeds in and out among the nests, the 

 birds' cries become shriller. Thinking that the beach may be the 



