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mers, and 100 Laughing Gulls. Owing to a severe storm in 1908, 

 which occurred at the height of the breeding season of the Royal 

 Tern, the colony of that species was badly broken up, and no 

 Royal Terns had come back until the day preceding our arrival. 

 On the afternoon of our arrival a few were seen about the shoal, 

 and the following day about 36 were counted in one flock. They 

 had not, however, started to nest, and we were very much dis- 

 appointed, of course, not to find breeding the one bird that we 

 had come so far to see. 



Our plans allowed us but the afternoon of the 24th and the 

 following day on the shoal. On first going ashore, therefore, 

 we made a survey in order to map out a program by which we 

 could observe and photograph the birds to best advantage in 

 the limited time at our disposal. Fortunately, the colonies 

 were so distributed as to allow each of us to take a different 

 station and work on a different species without interfering with 

 the other members of the party; and the next morning Abbott 

 took the Common Terns, Bowdish the Least Terns, and I the 

 Laughing Gulls and Skimmers. The nesting of all these species 

 was well advanced. The Laughing Gulls had young running 

 around in the grass, or eggs almost ready to hatch. Most of 

 the Skimmers' nests had the usual three or four eggs, one nest 

 of five being noted. The Least Terns had, for the most part, 

 hatched, and the young were found hiding among the shells 

 and the drift. Most of the Common Terns had the usual sets 

 of three eggs, though several young were found. 



The Laughing Gulls nested on Royal Shoal in a very peculiar 

 manner. I had previously seen their nests on the New Jersey 

 and Virginia coasts as large structures built among the growing 

 grass or placed on drift patches in the open marsh, and visible 

 for a considerable distance. But here they were very carefully 

 concealed in the grass and under the bushes on dry ground. 

 Leading from the open places were little pathways along which 

 the birds walked when approaching or leaving their nests. 

 The eggs were hidden from above, and the nests themselves 

 were mere collections of bits of drift and dried grass, placed 

 flat on the ground. 



I placed my umbrella blind near a clump of bushes in which I 

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