LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 199 



shells, lined with a few small pieces of shells and bits of straw. The 

 other was a very elaborate structure— a large pile of dead sedge 

 stems, gathered from a neighboring marsh, and the shells of oysters, 

 clams, and scallops. It was lined with small clam and oyster shells, 

 making quite a pretty picture. I measured this nest and found it to 

 be about 18 inches in diameter externally and 4 inches internally. 

 All of these nests were in or near breeding colonies of black skim- 

 mers, among which a few pairs of common terns were also nesting. 

 Dr. Paul Bartsch writes to me as follows regarding a breeding 

 colony of this species that he found in the Bahama Islands : 



On May 23, 1912, we visited Little Golden Key, which is listed as Middle High 

 Key on the Andros Island chart. The northwest corner of this island consists 

 of a sand spit, the edge of which has been worn off by strong tidal currents. 

 Here we found a large flock. of gull-billed and least terns. I crawled up to the 

 edge of the sand bar from the rear and found myself face to face with them, 

 almost too close to them to take a picture, but succeeded in capturing several 

 snapshots, one of which I send to you herewith. On the northeast side of this 

 same island we found the gull-billed terns breeding. I should say that the 

 colony probably embraced 25 pairs. It seemed rather remarkable to find gull- 

 billed terns assembled in a colony, for my experience heretofore had been to 

 find them nesting scattered among colonies of the common tern ; at least this 

 has been the case wherever I have observed them breeding on our Atlantic 

 coast. 



I have no recent information about its nesting habits in Texas, 

 but Davie (1889) says: 



Dr. James C. Merrill and George B. Sennett found a colony of this species, 

 in company with Sterna forsteri, breeding on a grassy island among lagoons 

 and marshes near Fort Brown, Tex., May 16, 1877. The nests were slight 

 depressions among the short grass, and the eggs were frequently wet. 



It also breeds on the sandy islands on the coast of Texas, depositing 

 its eggs in slight hollows in the sand. 



Eggs. — The gull-billed tern raises but one brood in a season and 

 lays ordinarily two or three eggs; sets of four eggs are occasionally 

 laid, but they are uncommon. The eggs are characteristic and are 

 easily recognized by their size and shape. In general appearance 

 they are rounder and lighter colored than the eggs of any of the 

 medium-sized terns. In shape they are usually ovate or short ovate^ 

 well rounded at the small end. The ground color varies from " warm 

 buff" or "pinkish buff" in the darkest eggs to "cartridge buff" or 

 "ivory yellow" in the lightest eggs; the prevailing colors are the 

 lighter shades of buff. The markings consist of spots and blotches 

 of : various sizes and shapes scattered irregularly over the egg in 

 varying amounts, but a majority of the eggs are not very heavily 

 marked. The underlying spots show all five shades of " brownish 

 drab," and the heavier markings are in various shades of the darker 

 browns, such as "Vandyke brown," "bister," and "sepia." The 

 measurements of 47 eggs in the United States National Museum 



17478K— 21 14 



