﻿242 Bird -Lore 



It is hard to estimate the numbers in the Gull and Tern colonies at the 

 present time, but they have increased enormously in the few years that they 

 have been protected. A conservative estimate of the number of young 

 birds this year is about 50,000. 



One warden was employed in Massachusetts who had charge of the 

 Weepecket Islands. He estimates the increase to be 2,600 young Common 

 and Roseate Terns. In addition, the colonies of Terns on Penikese and 

 Muskeget Islands are doing well. 



In New York, two wardens were employed by the Association, and one 

 by Mr. Hatch, of New York City, to guard the Herring Gulls on his islands, 

 the Four Brothers, in Lake Champlain. On these islands there were 107 

 nests this year, as against 74 nests in 1905, a gain of nearly forty-five per 

 cent. The Association wardens guard the Terns at Gardiner's Island and 

 report a very large colony. In this connection it is pleasing to be able to 

 present the appended confirmation of this report from Mr. John H. Sage, 

 Secretary of the American Ornithologists' Union, who writes: " There is a 

 marked increase in the number of Terns seen along the shore near and in 

 front of my cottage at Weekapaug, R. I., and I hear excellent reports from 

 the vicinity of Gardiner's Island. One friend said he certainly saw 2,000 

 birds there in June." 



Your president was greatly pleased to find a young Tern just able to fly- 

 near the shore of Great Island, in Great South Bay, Long Island, N. Y. 

 This indicates that Terns have commenced to breed there again, after an 

 absence of nearly twenty years. Thousands of them used to breed in that 

 locality up to the years 1883-4, when they were mercilessly slaughtered for 

 millinery ornaments. With rigid protection it may be possible to repopulate 

 this great bay with these beautiful and graceful birds. Early in September 

 Terns were quite plentiful at Fire Island Inlet, and it was certainly a pleasing 

 sight to see them about their old fishing grounds. Unusual numbers of 

 Black Terns were seen in New York Harbor in September. All of these 

 facts indicate that the protection given to Gulls and Terns is showing good 

 results in the increased numbers of these species that are seen along the 

 coast and in the bays and harbors. 



In New Jersey, two wardens were employed to guard the only colonies 

 of Laughing Gulls left in the state. The total result for the season was 

 probably not over 1,500 young birds, as a storm tide destroyed all of the first 

 laying at the Stone Harbor colony. Notwithstanding all the efforts of this 

 Association to give protection, Terns seem to have abandoned the New 

 Jersey coast as a breeding-place. There may be a few individuals breedings 

 but no colonies still exist. 



In Virginia, seven wardens were employed, all on the Eastern Shore. 

 This is a large territory covering many scores of square miles of beach, salt 

 marsh and interlacing tide creeks. It is a physical impossibility for the 



