﻿BIRDS 
  OF 
  NP:W 
  YORK 
  

  

  151 
  

  

  Nesting. 
  I 
  am 
  pleased 
  to 
  report 
  that 
  the 
  Black, 
  or 
  Short-tailed 
  tern, 
  

   is 
  a 
  regular 
  summer 
  resident 
  in 
  the 
  marshes 
  near 
  the 
  mouth 
  of 
  Big 
  Sandy 
  

   creek, 
  Jefferson 
  county, 
  N. 
  Y. 
  According 
  to 
  Dr 
  R. 
  L. 
  Crockett, 
  Mr 
  L. 
  C. 
  

   Snvder 
  and 
  Mr 
  J. 
  W. 
  Soule 
  the 
  birds 
  begin 
  to 
  lay 
  during 
  the 
  last 
  week 
  in 
  

   May, 
  making 
  their 
  nests 
  on 
  sunken 
  muskrat 
  houses, 
  floating 
  boards, 
  or 
  

   debris, 
  merely 
  gathering 
  together 
  a 
  few 
  straws 
  on 
  which 
  to 
  deposit 
  the 
  eggs 
  

   which 
  are 
  from 
  two 
  to 
  five 
  in 
  number, 
  usually 
  three. 
  Dr 
  Crockett 
  writes 
  

   that 
  the 
  eggs 
  are 
  sometimes 
  found 
  as 
  late 
  as 
  the 
  last 
  of 
  July 
  and 
  thinks 
  

  

  Nest 
  and 
  eggs 
  of 
  Black 
  tern. 
  (.From 
  Bird-Lore: 
  photo 
  by 
  Bent) 
  

  

  that 
  two 
  broods 
  are 
  reared. 
  Mr 
  Snyder 
  estimated 
  that 
  there 
  Avere 
  150 
  

   pairs 
  of 
  breeding 
  birds 
  in 
  1903. 
  Mr 
  William 
  Hagedone, 
  keeper 
  of 
  the 
  Life 
  

   Saving 
  Station, 
  writes 
  that 
  in 
  1905 
  there 
  were 
  probably 
  1000 
  birds 
  in 
  the 
  

   marshes; 
  that 
  they 
  arrive 
  about 
  the 
  first 
  of 
  June, 
  lay 
  four 
  eggs 
  in 
  a 
  nest, 
  

   the 
  young 
  "are 
  all 
  out" 
  by 
  the 
  4th 
  of 
  July, 
  that 
  no 
  one 
  shoots 
  them, 
  and 
  

   they 
  are 
  all 
  gone 
  by 
  the 
  ist 
  of 
  September. 
  Mr 
  Foster 
  Parker 
  of 
  Cayuga 
  

   has 
  found 
  it 
  breeding 
  in 
  the 
  Montezuma 
  marshes 
  on 
  a 
  few 
  occasions. 
  The 
  

   eggs 
  are 
  brownish 
  olive, 
  quite 
  heavily 
  spotted 
  and 
  splashed 
  with 
  light 
  

   brown, 
  brownish 
  black 
  and 
  obscure 
  shell 
  markings, 
  dimensions 
  1.35 
  x 
  .95 
  

  

  