lyo Mackay, Terna of Muskeget Island, Mass. [A^ril 



adjacent shoals, or more correctly speaking, pieces of the old 

 south beach, which are now all that remains of the northwestern 

 half, and which formerly served as a barrier on this side and pro- 

 tected Muskeget and contiguous islands from the fury of the 

 ocean. It will be seen that the conditions here are constantly 

 changing to a greater or less extent, and I would refer those of 

 my readers who may be interested to know how this locality 

 looked, as also Penikese Island, at the time of the American 

 Revolution, to the ' Atlantic Neptune,' an atlas published for the 

 use of the Royal Navy of Great Britain, by Samuel Holland, Esq., 

 London, 1777, Vol. II, Part 2. I found no birds nesting, nor 

 chicks, nor eggs on these pieces of beach. Attempts at incuba- 

 tion had been made, as shoAvn by the remains of &^^ shells, some 

 nearly whole, with a good sized hole towards the larger end. 

 This orifice had the appearance of having been gnawed or pecked 

 to obtain the contents. Everything indicated that these places 

 had been abandoned by the birds. 



My next stopping place was at South Point Island. Changes 

 were also noticeable here, my check-list of eggs and nests show- 

 ing five hundred less eggs, and nearly a hundred less nests than 

 on June 26, 1896. I again tried, without success, to procure 

 some of the Roseates with a deep orange colored bill. There 

 was only a small number of Roseates nesting here, intermingled 

 with the Common Terns and Laughing Gulls. These latter, 

 about fifteen pairs, probably came from their old nesting place on 

 Muskeget proper, they nesting here for the first time, in the 

 thickest and tallest beach grass. This place was, until 1897, one 

 of the strongholds of the Roseates, but this year these beautiful 

 birds are not in evidence as formerly, a large part of the colony 

 heretofore domiciled here having apparently abandoned these 

 waters. I think there are more Common Terns breeding on 

 South Point Island than in 1896, they having come, like their 

 neighbors, the Laughing Gulls, from Muskeget proper, having, 

 like them, also abandoned it. I also found here some empty egg 

 shells of the Terns and one of a Laughing Gull which had holes 

 apparently gnawed or pecked in them. The nests and eggs 

 noted are as follows : 



