192 BIRD STUDIES WITH A CAMERA 
probable that the surviving individuals return each 
year to their former breeding grounds. The Terns 
of Muskeget and Penikese, forming the only two 
large colonies of these birds remaining on the At- 
lantic coast, return to their island retreats every 
spring; and actuated by this same love of home, the 
Brown Pelicans of the Indian River region of east- 
ern Florida annually repair to a certain small island 
for the purpose of rearing their young. Many simi- 
lar cases might be cited in confirmation of the belief 
—supported also by isolated observations on the 
mainland—that birds nest in the same locality 
throughout their lives, and, on occasion, may even 
occupy their previous season’s nest. 
As regards the manner in which these island- 
inhabiting birds arrive at the nesting grounds, as 
far as our recorded information goes, it seems that 
without relation to latitude they appear each spring 
with remarkable regularity, not straggling back a 
few at a time, but sending on an advance guard, 
which usually remains only a short time and is fol- 
lowed, a few days later, by apparently the entire 
colony. 
Thus, Mackay writes of the Terns of Penikese: 
“Tn 1893 the Terns arrived on May 10th, in the night, 
an advance guard of several hundred being noted 
early the following morning at daylight; these all 
left before noon of the 11th, and on the morning of 
the 12th, before daylight, immense numbers had 
again arrived. ... In 1896 the Terns commenced to 
arrive during the night of May 9th; they were in 
evidence at daylight on the 10th, and continued to 
arrive all day, and on the morning of the 11th the 
