A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 

 DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Organ of the Audubon Societies 



Vol. V May — June, 1903 No. 3 



The Tortugas Tern Colony 



BY DR. JOSEPH THOMPSON. U. S. N. 



With photographs from nature by Dr. Alfred G. Mayer; reproduced by permission of the 

 Museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences 



ABOUT eighty miles to the westward of Key West, the Florida Keys 

 ^_ terminate in a group of seven small islands, two of which. Logger- 

 head and Garden Key, are inhabited. Loggerhead Island is 

 so called because of the great number of Loggerhead turtles ( Thalessochelys 

 caretta) that visit it in the spring for the purpose of digging holes in the 

 sand and depositing their eggs; Garden Key is the site of Fort Jefferson, 

 one of the largest fortresses in the country. 



One mile southwest of Garden Key is a small island, about two 

 hundred yards long by seventy-five wide, and in no place more than 

 four feet above high tide. The vegetation consists of a few scrub palm 

 , trees, a dense growth of bay cedar bushes, patches of Bermuda grass 

 and some cacti. This island is known locally as Bird Key, and has 

 received its name from the fact that for as long as any one can remember 

 it has been the chosen nesting spot of a large colony of Terns. Year 

 after year these birds return to lay their eggs and raise their young, in 

 spite of the relentless persecution to which they have been subjected by 

 the natives, who have gathered their eggs for eating purposes. There 

 have been years when not a single individual was raised, every egg having 

 been taken shortly after it was laid. 



It is admitted that the birds have decreased in numbers, and, in view 

 of the treatment accorded them, it is remarkable that they have not 

 been completely exterminated. 



Last year (1902) was the first one that the A. O. U. model law was 

 in effect in the state of Florida. Its enforcement would be an easy 

 matter in such an out-of-the-way place, but in spite of the efforts of Mr. 

 Dutcher, of the A. O. U., and in the face of a letter of promise from 

 the commanding officer of the station to afford protection to the birds, 



