36 



THE OOLOGIST 



by only a dense wall of dry, moist and 

 decajed st^aweed, which lines the high- 

 water mark along the entire western 

 shore. 



The middle or smallest island rises as 

 an abrupt plateau from the sea, the 

 base being composed of the ordinary 

 boulders of the shore, while from the 

 highwater mark the small elevation of 

 about one-quarter of an acre rises to a 

 height of about twenty feet. The soil 

 of these islands (the middle and outer) 

 is of the ordinary clay-sand mixture of 

 the coast, covered with a foot of the 

 finest black loam, caused by the con- 

 stant development of guano from the 

 excrement, etc., of the Terns. 



The outer island differs only in point 

 of size from the middle one, being 

 about twice as large and sitting far out 

 in "the bay" as it does, if forms the 

 most popular breeding place for the 

 Terns. 



My last visit to these islands was paid 

 at the very end of the breeding season, 

 during the summer of 1901, and I con- 

 sequently had the best of opportunities 

 to observe the young and methods of 

 feeding, and I think I can put the in- 

 formation I desire to impart in no bet- 

 ter form than to quote "ver batim" 

 from my field notes of the trip. 



July 27, 1901.— After breakfast we 

 started for the Weepecket Islands and 

 after a hard pull of nearly two hours 

 against wind and tide, we arrived and 

 beached our "skiff" on the gravelly 

 beach of the outer island or "North 

 Pecket" as the fisher ai en call it. 



Upon our approach the Terns arose 

 in a great flock and flew about us in 

 large numbers, giving note of their 

 harsh grating cry. Immediately upon 

 landing, we took several pictures of the 

 flocks of Terns and also of several young 

 birds in the water. There was a large 

 number of young of the year, either a 

 few yards off shore or just at the water's 

 edge, and the old birds would bring 

 food to them there. There seemed to 



be the greatest imparfuility about this 

 method of feeding. For instance, we 

 saw several different Terns feeding one 

 young bird, and following the motions 

 of on© bird carefully, we observed her 

 catch several small mackerel, and in 

 each case the fish was deposited in the 

 voracious maw of a different bird. 

 Heavens! Would those young birds 

 never get filled up? We saw at least a 

 dozen fish deposited in the gaping jaws 

 of one young bird as he floated lazily 

 upon the waves, a few yards from shore, 

 and there is no means of knowing how 

 long this had been going on or how 

 many more this lusty youngster could 

 get away with before the day ended. 



Some of the young attempt to swim 

 too early, or are washed off a rock by 

 an incoming wave, for we saw several 

 of the birds in an apparently helpless 

 condition in the water, and upon taking 

 them out found them too exhausted to 

 move. 



After taking what pictures we wished 

 from our landing place, we started to 

 explore the island and although the sea-^ 

 son was far advanced, found several 

 sets of fresh eggs. 



This is the latest I have ever recorded 

 unincubated sets from this locality, al- 

 though Mr. George Gray of the Marine- 

 Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, 

 tells me he has taken fresh sets as late 

 as September. This must have been at 

 other localities on the coast, for I have 

 never before found fresh eggs of either 

 hirundo, dougali or paradisea later than 

 July 27th. Mo.«it of the netts were on. 

 the northern end of the island and were 

 of the common variety {8. hirundo). 

 They were situated in the ridge of sea- 

 weed just above highwater mark. 



The nest is a very hollow excavation 

 in the seaweed, and the process of nest 

 making is certainly not a very lengthy 

 or laborious proceeding as I have noti- 

 ced it in the past. The female merely 

 nestles into the seaweed or sand as the 

 case may be, and with a few well di- 



