EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT. 103 



dunes of the Virginia coast another haven for wild sea-birds, 

 but one which they now hold with difficulty. Black skimmers, 

 laughing gulls and various species of terns are here found nest- 

 ing in colonies close together. Continuing to the north, we find 

 small scattered colonies of sea-birds here and there, notably on 

 Gardiner's and other islands at the eastern end of Long Island. 

 On the former island, whose owners for thirteen generations 

 have given the birds protection, several hundred fish-hawks build 

 their nests within the radius of a few square miles. On the Maine 

 coast, where the intelligent sympathy of the inhabitants is readily 

 enlisted, large colonies of herring-gulls and other birds are estab- 

 lished, while we may complete our brief and imperfect review 

 with the Bird Rocks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where, among 

 other species, gannets, auks, puffins and murres lay their eggs 

 on the ledges and among the crevices of the steep cliffs. 



This brief mention of the principal bird colonies of our Atlantic 

 sea-coast will show what a charm will be added to our shores 

 when these birds are so protected that they will form a winged 

 chain extending without a break from the far north to Florida, 

 and even throughout the entire year, for when our sea-swallows 

 and smaller gulls go southward in the fall, herring gulls and other 

 northern species take their places. 



The visits we had paid to Gardiner's Island and Pelican Island 

 [vide Z. S. Bulletins, Nos. n and 12] only made us the more 

 eager to visit other colonies, and when an opportunity presented 

 itself to study the homes and habits of the birds along the Vir- 

 ginia coast, we were delighted to be able to take instant advan- 

 tage of it. 



During the past summer, in company with some friends we were 

 able to spend a week sailing from island to island along the Vir- 

 ginia coast, we were delighted to be able to take instant advan- 

 of the interesting birds which make the cedars and sand-dunes 

 their home. We were able in this way to study intimately the 

 nesting habits of some dozen of our sea-birds, besides observing 

 many other species. 



It was after nine o'clock on the evening of July eleventh when 

 the sleeper moved out of Jersey City, and yet the first rays of the 

 next morning's sun are reflected to us from the waters of Chesa- 

 peake Bay, as we leave the car at Cape Charles. A drive of six 

 miles across country shows the familiar roadside nature of Vir- 

 ginia at its best. The notes of cardinals and bob-whites come to 

 us from every side. Shadows of soaring buzzards pass over the 

 backs of the horses, purple martins and kingbirds swoop across 



