3i6 



Bird - Lore 



TERNS KILLED BY DOGS AND CANNON 



Illustrated from photographs by Herbert R. Mills, M.D. 



Haddock Rock is a small island, about 

 an acre in area, lying in the outer portion 

 of Casco Bay, about seventeen miles 

 northeast of Portland, Maine. It is com- 

 posed of rock, and is cleft and broken at 

 the base, but rising about thirty feet into 

 a fairly level table-land. There is no vege- 

 tation on this storm-swept eminence except 

 the slippery rock-weed clinging to the 

 tide-washed base, and a stunted growth of 

 sea-plantain (Plantago decipiens) occupy- 

 ing the scanty soil in the crevices above 

 the breakers. Until the summer of 1913, 



the residents of Casco Bay took his dogs 

 over to Mark Island and turned them 

 loose. At this time many hundred young 

 birds were on the nesting-grounds, unable 

 to fly, and the dogs devoured them to the 

 last bird. 



The following season (191 2) the much- 

 depleted colony returned to the same 

 breeding-grounds, but only to have the 

 same pack of dogs destroy their eggs and 

 young; and, reduced to two hundred pairs 

 of birds, the colony returned to Casco 

 Bay, in 1913, to try their luck on Haddock 



HADDOCK ROCK, CASCO BAY, MAINE 



birds were not known to breed on this 

 little island, but during the past season 

 two hundred pairs of the common Tern 

 attempted to raise their young on Haddock 

 Rock. This was an overflow colony from 

 one of the islands protected by wardens 

 employed by the National Association. 



Casco Bay is dotted with islands, and 

 many of them were formerly occupied by 

 sea-birds, but the encroachments of 

 civilization had gradually crowded the 

 wild birds back until the only breeding 

 colony left was a few hundred Terns on 

 Mark Island, not far from Haddock Rock. 

 For several seasons the birds held their 

 own on Mark Island, and it seemed as if 

 they had at last found a safe refuge, since 

 this island is unoccupied government land; 

 but, during the summer of 191 1, one of 



Rock, there to meet another tragedy, 

 which I will now relate: — 



On July 30, 1913, I landed with much 

 difficulty on the treacherous base of 

 Haddock Rock. Climbing to the level 

 summit-plateau I found hidden in the 

 crevices five young Terns about seven 

 inches long, feathered out on the back and 

 wings, although they still had down on 

 the head and underparts. Among the 

 sea-plantain I found twenty-five nests 

 built upon thin soil with a few stems of 

 dried vegetable fiber, and containing sets 

 of one and two eggs each (one with four). 

 I was at once impressed with the dull 

 appearance of the eggs and, upon examin- 

 ation, found them to be very light in 

 weight. I then opened every egg in the 

 rookery (with the exception of the set of 



