178 



NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



skimmers, but when the colony is disturbed the birds all fly back 

 and forth — a great intermingling mass of forms in the air above 

 the marsh. They have a clear, high note, and occasionally they 

 break out into an ah-ah-ah-ah-ah which bears some resemblance 

 to our expression of mirth. The young birds seem to have much 

 the same habits as the terns, although very few had hatched at 

 the time of our visit. At night they roam about the beach, the 

 members of each brood keeping together. The adult Gulls, and 

 indeed most of the birds on the island, seemed to enjoy an insect 

 diet. Dragon flies in the marshes, and the white-winged tiger 

 beetles of the beaches, were devoured by the hundred. 



RESULTS. 



A. As immediate direct results of the trip, ninety-two specimens 

 of living birds, representing six species, were added to the 

 Society's collection. Acknowledgment should here be made of 

 the courtesy of Dr. J. W. Bowdoin, President of the Eastern 



SKIMMER 14 DAYS OLD. LEAST TERN 21 DAYS OLD. 



The young birds were hatched in a Park incubator. 



Shore Game Protective Association of Virginia, in granting 

 permits to collect and to ship out of the State, birds protected 

 by law. 



B. Exhaustive notes were made upon the heron rookeries of 

 this part of Virginia, which will form the subject of a future 

 paper. 



C. Even the brief examination which we were enabled to make 



