CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 5 1 



land, a bank of shingle, etc., near the foot of Amherst Island, 

 ay of Quinte. I found one egg in June 1895, ^ solitary pair of 

 rds being all that were left of the many that formerly bred 

 lere. I have not heard of any being met with since that date, 

 nother locality a little below Kingston was the " Spectacles," 

 iree small islands in mid-channel. Many pairs also bred at the 

 lot of Wolfe Island, but all these localities have been deserted 

 •r some years. Further down the river, below Rockport, a few 

 lirs still breed. They frequent some rocky islets near Chimney 

 iland. In 1893 there were about 30 pairs of birds, but since that 

 ate they have gradually diminished until in 1896 there were not 

 lore than 12 pairs, and in a few more years this locality also will 

 2 deserted by these birds. 



Two or three eggs complete a set. I have seen numbers of 

 erns' nests and never saw more than three eggs in the same 

 sst. When the eggs are laid on rocks, a few stalks of grass 

 r bits of bark are collected and formed into a nest. Sometimes 

 lere is no attempt at nest-building at all, but the eggs are laid on 

 le bare rock or ground, usually between the first and third weeks 

 [ June. On the Magdalen Islands great numbers of these birds 

 reed on the sand-bars ; in June 1897 I found them abundant on 

 rosse Isle, where on the 22nd June I saw about 60 eggs, most of 

 lem recently laid. The nests were made in the short grass and 

 1 the beaches near the sea. (Rev. C.J. Young.) 



Besides breeding in numbers in the St. Clair marshes, this 



)ecies breeds on islands in Lake Ontario. The nest is on 



■avelly or rocky ground, and built of slight material. Eggs, 

 om two to four. {W. Saunders.) 



During July and August of the present year (1899) the writer 

 )ent five weeks on Sable Island, which is situated nearly one 

 jndred miles southeast of Nova Scotia. The breeding season 

 as nearly over, but Common, Arctic and Roseate Terns were 

 ill incubating, though thousands of young birds were flying 

 ound, and still younger ones were hidden in depressions in the 

 md or behind any convenient cover, while the clamour of the 

 irents overhead was deafening. The chief breeding-ground 

 as on the south side of the island, and this was a wide sand- 

 it extending for ten miles or more in an east-and-west 

 rection. Over this flat were scattered patches of Arenaria 

 ploides and a few hummocks of sand-grass {Ammophila 



