1889. ] DurcHuerR, Birds of Little Gull Island, N. Y. 127 
without cause, and, unless we should lie still for quite a while in the grass, 
or else shoot a Crow or an unwary and over-confident Tern for a decoy, 
our chances of getting many were not large. This unfortunate habit of 
worrying over whatever came in their way or even over their own dead, 
however, was fatal to them, for if we could by any means bring down one 
bird we could get all the others we cared for, by simply using the first 
bird as a stool. 
Quite a number of nests were found, although not so large a number as 
I judged there would be, after seeing the birds. I suppose, however, that 
some of the birds were the ‘young of the year’ that had learned to 
fly. The nests were all on the west end of the island, none being seenon 
the other end, and but few on the upland. Most of the nests were built of 
the dried grass of the island, some having a few dried reeds mixed in with 
the grass, while those built just at the edge of the bank, where the sand 
was bare of stones, were merely the slightest depressions in the sand; the 
eggs being laid in the sand, I presume, to save the bird the trouble of 
building a nest, as most of the grass nests were among the rocks on the 
shore just above high-water mark. The quantity of material used 
in different nests varied up to abouta pint. The number of eggs in dif- 
ferent sets was generally from one to four; most of the nests having two or 
three, several one or four, and one, five. The eggs in aset of four, acci- 
dently stepped on, were all perfectly fresh, while some nests found, con- 
tained both young and eggs together. The young, however, seem to stay 
but a short time in the nest, as all those obtained were running around 
and trying to hide among the rocks. Ina nest found containing a young 
bird and an egg, the bird must have been out but a very short time. 
as it was stilldamp. No eggs were collected on account of the difficulty 
in identifying them. 
The Terns, as far asI know, were never on their nests in the daytime. 
and Chas. B. Field said that he had never seen one sitting, night or day. 
The eggs could not be identified by their coloring either, as they varied 
all the way from white up to a burnt umber, and from having very few 
spots to being almost completely covered with them. One abnormal egg 
had a ground color of light blue. But four or five nests were found on 
the upland, and the ants were at some of these. I should not be surprised if 
ants were the cause of the birds breeding almost exclusively on the shore, 
as there was good building material on the upland, just as handy as that 
on the shore, if not more so. 
4. Sterna dougalli. Rosrkatrre TERN.—The ‘Rosettes,’ as the Roseates 
are called at Little Gull, are there considered quite rare; the keepers in- 
forming me that few are ever shot in the course of a season. During my 
stay I noticed but five; only three of which I am absolutely certain were 
Roseates, as] had them in my hands; the other two, however, I feel 
justified in calling Roseates by the extreme purity of their breasts and 
bellies, by the length of their tails. by the darkness of their bills, and by 
the fact that they seemed fully grown in every respect. The habits of the 
Roseates did not differ, so far as Icould see, from those of the Common 
