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Bird- Lore 



ing in scattered flocks in the great marshes by day, and at sundown resorting 

 to small, low islands to roost. I saw as many, I should judge, as ten thou- 

 sand in one great flock. I did not observe much shooting, but there is some, 

 and the southern coastwise states certainly should have laws prohibiting 

 spring shooting of shore birds, thus preventing disturbing them while breed- 

 ing or migrating northward. 



"It was too early to witness the breeding of the Black Skimmers and 

 Terns. At several points there were large flocks of Skimmers and fair 

 numbers of Royal Terns, apparently about to breed. The Royal Tern was 

 the only species at all common; no Least Terns were seen. 



"Several low sandy islands were visited where Brown Pelicans are accus- 

 tomed to breed. High tides and gales seemed to have drowned them all out 

 this year. On only one island were there eggs, and these were washed 

 from the nests and scattered about the sand or in windrows. Nature is more 

 unkind even than man to the Pelicans, neither shielding them nor endow- 

 ing them with brains." 



Mr. Job adds regarding another part of the south: "I was fortunate 

 enough to ferret out a rookery of the American Egret which is probably the 

 largest in North America, the existence of which does not seem to be 

 known away from its immediate locality. Several hundred pairs of Egrets 

 were breeding undisturbed, most of them with young, besides large numbers 



WILLET ON NEST, SEA ISLANDS, SOUTH CAROLINA 

 Photographed by H. K. Job 



