80 



erously placed at our disposal. After a very pleasant and 

 interesting trip through Buck Sound and Core Sound, we passed 

 Harbor Island Light, which marks the entrance to Pamlico 

 Sound, and headed north against a fresh breeze and a sea that 

 tossed us about in lively fashion. Late in the afternoon we saw 

 ahead of us a low, dark object, which Jennett announced to be 

 Royal Shoal. Soon we were met by jjarties of Common Terns, 

 which flew about us and acted as an escort while we passed 

 under the lee of the shoal and into the narrow lagoon which 

 forms a safe harbor and landing place. 



As we were approaching the shoal, we were alarmed to see a 

 "sharpy" beating a hasty retreat out of the lagoon. " Eggers," 

 said the warden; and we were very much afraid that our visit 

 was too late, and that the colony had suffered one of the now 

 infrequent but destructive visitations from the fishermen, who 

 greatly prize the eggs as food. As soon as the anchor was down^ 

 Bowdish, Abbott, and I scrambled out of the boat and were soon 

 ashore exploring the island. We had arrived apparently just 

 in time to prevent the fishermen from raiding the colony, as we 

 found no nests disturbed. 



Royal Shoal is a very narrow sand spit, shaped somewhat like 

 a fishhook, and at its highest part is scarcely three feet above 

 sea level. At the upper or shank end of the shoal there are 

 stunted bushes and high, thick beach grass, but the rest of the 

 island is merely sandy and shell-strewn, with occasional patches 

 of driftweed. The shallow lagoon within the hook of the shoal 

 is only three or four feet deep, and swarms with small mullet 

 and other fish; it makes an ideal feeding ground for the birds^ 

 and is a safe anchorage against almost any wind. 



Breeding on the island were Common Terns, Black Skimmers^ 

 Laughing Gulls, and Least Terns. The Laughing Gulls were 

 nesting among the bushes and the grass on the higher part; 

 the Skimmers, for the most part, kept to themselves in a httle 

 colony among the shells at the very tip of the island; the Common 

 Tern colony was located at the lower or hook end ; and the Least 

 Tern colony was scattered along a ridge of shells on the inner side 

 of the island at about the central part. We estimated that there 

 were breeding 250 Common Terns, 200 Least Terns, 200 Skim- 



