108 BIRD STUDIES WITH A CAMERA 
looked in vain for the Terns which had previously so 
enlivened our shores. 
The protection afforded by an insular existence 
was now given a practical and striking illustration. 
The Terns which nested on the mainland or near- 
lying sand bars were soon extirpated, but on cer- 
tain less accessible, uninhabited islets, they still sur- 
vived. 
Thus all that were left of countless numbers of 
these birds which once inhabited the shores of Long 
Island were to be found on the Great Gull Island, 
while Muskeget and Penikese, off the Massachusetts 
coast, contained the only large colonies of Terns 
from Long Island to Maine. The existence of the 
Gull Island colony being threatened by collectors, 
the influence of several bird lovers secured the ap- 
pointment of the keeper of the lighthouse on the 
neighboring islet, Little Gull, as a special game 
warden to enforce the previously useless laws sup- 
posed to protect the Terns. 
The result was both encouraging and instructive. 
In two years it is estimated that the colony increased 
from two thousand to four thousand, and it was hoped 
that it might prove a nucleus from which the ad- 
joining shores would eventually be restocked with 
Terns. But the Government at Washington selected 
Great Gull Island as a desirable point for fortifica- 
tions, and before even this suggestion of war the 
poor Terns disappeared. For one season the labor- 
ers employed by the Government feasted on Terns’ 
eggs; then the gradual occupancy of the eighteen 
acres composing the islet forced the birds to seek 
homes elsewhere. 
