^°i8g8"^] Report of Commiltcc on Bird Pro /re (ion. 87 



with the aid of a friend in Washington, I had the matter brought 

 to the attention of the Hon. Secretary of the Treasury, as also of 

 the General Superintendent of the Life Saving Service, who con- 

 siderately granted permission to the Captain of the Life Saving 

 Station on Muskeget Island to serve in the capacity of warden 

 during the two months of June and July (the breeding season of 

 the Terns and Laughing Gulls), when the life saving crew were 

 off duty. In order that the Captain might have the necessary 

 authority to arrest without warrant in this State, I made application 

 that he be appointed a Deputy Fish and Game Commissioner, 

 which appliciation was most considerately granted by the Hon. E. 

 A. Brackett, Chairman of the Commissioners on Island Fisheries 

 and Game. Under this arrangement the birds breeding there 

 have been cared for during the past season. I personally 

 visited and remained in Muskeget and adjoining islands July 

 3, 4, and 5, 1897, and made, as has been my custom here- 

 tofore, a detailed examination of all the breeding ground. I 

 found to my regret that great changes had taken place, especially 

 on Muskeget Island. All the Laughing Gulls had abandoned 

 their old breeding haunt, as had also pretty nearly all the Ternn ; 

 of the latter's eggs I did not observe over 100, where on July 8, 



1895, I checked off 1280, and where in 1896 I found them too 

 numerous to check off alone. On Gravelly Island, formerly the 

 home of the beautiful Roseates, my especial pleasure and care, 

 I am now compelled to write that this season they are only to be 

 observed in greatly diminished numbers, this island, their par- 

 ticular resort, having been usurped to a large extent by the 

 Common Tern. I find by actual count that the total nests and 

 eggs noted here on July 3, 1897, are below what they were on July 

 26, 1896. On South Point Island, on July 4, 1897, there were 20 

 per cent, less nests, and 50 per cent, less eggs than on June 26, 



1896. I found about 15 pairs of Laughing Gulls breeding here, 

 and six or eight pairs breeding on Gravelly Island, which are all 

 there are in this neighborhood at the present time. 



" Last autumn the United States Government built a new life 

 saving station (the former one having been burned a number of 

 years ago) in the centre of the breeding resort of the Terns and 

 Laughing Gulls on Muskeget Island proper. The occupants of 



