338 Bird - Lore 



BIRD COLONIES AND WARDENS 



No work ever undertaken by this Association has shown more concrete 

 results than the guarding of bird colonies. The increase of Herring Gulls, 

 as a result of the protection of the splendid colonies on the Maine Coast, 

 is apparent to all observers. One of the most valuable services our movement 

 has rendered to the ornithological world has been the snatching back from 

 the verge of extinction certain birds of the United States. Thus, the Roseate 

 Tern in the Massachusetts colonies has probably been saved from extinction 

 by the protection it has received, in part at least, from this Association. 



In 1903, but sixteen eggs of the Least Tern were laid on the North Carolina 

 rookeries, the bird having been nearly exterminated for its feathers. After 

 nine years' protection, the warden in charge reports that, the past summer, 

 1,590 young were raised. This constitutes by far the largest nesting 

 group of these birds on the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Here 

 also is found the Cabot's Tern, the only place on our eastern shores where 

 it nests today. It is so rare that only seven eggs were laid and hatched the 

 past year. 



In the Virginia colonies, there are probably less than one dozen pairs 

 each of the Gull-billed Tern and the Forster's Tern. Despite the protection 

 we have extended them of recent years, they seem not to increase in num- 

 bers, which raises the grim question as to whether these beautiful species are 

 not on the point of passing from existence in Eastern North America. 



Of the more numerous species of water birds, such as the White and Brown 

 Pelicans, Laughing Gull, Common, Arctic and Caspian Terns, Puffins, Cor- 

 morants, and certain species of Ducks and Geese, the numbers are augmented 

 every year by the protection they are receiving. 



During the year, the Association has employed thirty-nine wardens to 

 guard bird colonies. These are distributed as follows: Florida, 4; Louisiana, 2; 

 Massachusetts, i; Michigan, 3; New York, 3; New Jersey, i; North Carolina, 

 i; Georgia, i; South Carolina, 5; Virginia, 2; Oregon, i; Maine, 15. 



More complete statements of the conditions of many of these colonies 

 will be found elsewhere accompanying this report. 



At a cost of $250.20, provided by interest accruing from the Mary Dutcher 

 Memorial Fund, Bird Island, covering an area of thirty-five acres, and situ- 

 ated in Orange Lake, Alachua county, Florida, was purchased during the 

 year; and Mr. O. E. Baynard, who conducted the transaction for the Associa- 

 tion, guarded the colony of birds located there throughout the summer, with- 

 out remuneration other than his living expenses. 



From his report is taken the following list of the birds which occupied 

 this remarkable rookery during the past summer. In each instance, the num- 

 ber given refers to mated pairs of birds, as determined by counting the num- 

 ber of occupied nests. 



