THE OOLOGIST 



175 



shell of the eggs of this — the Marsh 

 Tern as it is called — is quite different 

 from that of the other species of 

 Terns. The nest is a slight hollow 

 scooped up in the sand well above the 

 high tidal mark and among the trash, 

 shells and rocks. The birds arrive 

 from the south about April 25 and de- 

 part early in September. The eggs 

 are easily distinguished from the eggs 

 of other Terns by the individuality in 

 the texture of the shell and the yellow- 

 ish buff and grayish ground color. 

 They are marked profusely over their 

 entire surface with blotches and spot- 

 tings of reddish brown and mort< sub- 

 dued markings of faint lilac. Size of 

 eggs 1.80 by 1.30. A single brood is 

 raised in a season. Having spent the 

 day among the sea birds a return was 

 made to the hotel and the next day 

 spent in preparing specimens. A few 

 Caspian Terns, three or four pair were 

 noted as they flew over the marshes 

 to the beaches. Those birds are called 

 the Giannet Striker. They do not nest 

 until late in the season, towards the 

 first part of July. They arrive about 

 the 15th of May and migrate south- 

 ward about August 15. The nest is a 

 depression in the sandy beach, above 

 the high tide mark. The texture of 

 the egg shell of this big sea swallow 

 is smoother, the ground color being a 

 light olive or grayish buff. The ends 

 of the eggs are more rounded than in 

 the case of the Royal Tern which are 

 more oval in contour. Over the entire 

 surface the egg is marked with a suf- 

 fusion of chestnut and blackish brown 

 with fainter markings of lilac. Size of 

 eggs 2.70 by 1.75. A single brood is 

 raised in a season. The birds are be- 

 coming scarcer due to the changed 

 conditions in their breeding grounds 

 and the decrease is probably due more 

 to these changes in their breeding en- 

 vironment than to egging by the local 

 sea-faring men and being shot by 



spring gunners, causes so disastrous 

 to many of the species of sea birds. 

 The Caspian is one of the fairest of the 

 large Terns and is a good example of 

 these fairy-like creatures of the surf- 

 brimming beaches. 



Two eggs are of the usual compli- 

 ment, sometimes three. The Royal 

 Tern or Giannet Striker was also seen 

 flying toward the beaches, 25 birds 

 perhaps. These birds are not numer- 

 ous. They are not distinguished by 

 the local fisherman from the Caspian 

 species, both species being known as 

 Giannet Strikers. The eggs are laid 

 on the beaches in hollows scooped out 

 in the sand above the tidal reach. The 

 eggs are 2.50 and 1.70 in size. Their 

 ground is grayish white and spotted 

 with flecks of pin sized or larger dot- 

 tings of blackish brown and fainter 

 lilac. Fresh eggs are seldom found 

 before the first of July. This species 

 of Tern are a favorite egg bird of the 

 fisherman. Two or three eggs are 

 usually found in a set. These birds 

 are fortunate in being somewhat too 

 large to be a desiderata with the mil- 

 liner bird hunters being too great in 

 size to be well suited to the ladies' 

 hats. They arrive about the last of 

 May, departing about the middle of 

 September. 



Wishing to investigate the bird life 

 along the beaches at the extreme 

 northern end of the island, a cart, a 

 weather beaten affair, and a mule were 

 engaged together with the service of 

 Captain Roberts, and at dawn of the 

 morning of the third day on the island, 

 we started in the cart for the north end. 

 The Captain and I looked for nests, 

 camouflaged among the shelly stretch- 

 es, among broken bits of rocks along 

 the beautiful stretch of beach above 

 tide water mark. Overhead hundreds 

 of pairs of Common Terns screeched 

 and about midway of the island we 

 found a large colony nesting, the eggs 



