230 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



shrill but cheery cry of self-gratification or of brotherly good will. He knows 

 not fear. As one rows among the innumerable " copes " of rush and flag, bent 

 on reaching the Mallard's feeding ground, a skirmish line of, terns will wander 

 by, 20, 15, 10 feet overhead, furiously, without swerving a wing breadth from 

 their course. The one or two that are passing eye curiously the dumb decoys 

 in the boat's belly, and then saunter on with a rattling " jeer " of derision at 

 the hunter who toils at the oar, and who, unlike the tern, is never quite sure 

 of his game. But, then, our black-capped jaeger hunts all day. 



Nesting. — I first found this species breeding on Wreck Island, off 

 the coast of Virginia, on June 28, 1907, where we discovered a colony 

 of about 50 pairs. This and the other large islands in the group are 

 much like Cobb's Island, consisting of long, wide beaches on the outer, 

 or ocean, side, flat and sandy in some places or piled high with accu- 

 mulated oyster shells in others. Back of the beaches, on the shore 

 side, are extensive salt meadows or marshes, intersected by numerous 

 creeks and dotted with small ponds or mud holes. On the outer 

 beaches we found breeding colonies of black skimmers, common and 

 gull-billed terns, and over the marshes were scattered nests of laugh- 

 ing gulls and clapper rails. Our attention was first attracted to the 

 Forster's terns by their harsh grating cries, as they flew out to meet 

 us while exploring one of the creeks in our skiff. We finally located 

 the colony, by the actions of the birds, just beyond the long grass, 

 which grew thickly along the banks of the creek, and found the nests 

 thickly scattered along the drifted piles of dead sedgesj 1 which the 

 high tides had floated off the marsh and deposited in long rows close 

 to the tall-growing sedges. The nests were so close together that I 

 counted 12 nests in a space about 10 yards long by 3 yards wide. One 

 nest was placed within 3 feet of a clapper rail's nest. The nests were 

 mostly large and elaborate structures, remarkably well built, and re- 

 minding me of the nests of Franklin's gulls. They consisted of large 

 piles of dead sedges and grasses, surmounted by neat little nests, 

 deeply hollowed, with well-rounded and compactly woven rims. They 

 usually measured between 20 and 30 inches in diameter, the smallest 

 one measured being 16 inches at the base ; the cup-shaped portion, or 

 nest proper, measured from 7 to 8 inches outside and from 4 to 5 

 inches inside in diameter ; the inner cavity was from 1 to 1£ inches 

 deep and was neatly lined with split reeds and grasses. On the whole, 

 the nests looked like works of art when compared with the slovenly 

 nests built by other species of terns. Most of the nests contained 

 three or four eggs, but many sets of five were found and a few nests 

 held newly hatched young. 



In the Breton Island reservation, off the coast of Louisiana, I 

 found two breeding colonies of Forster's terns. On Battledore 

 Island a colony of about 30 pairs were nesting in a compact group 

 on a strip of drift seaweed which had washed up over a marsh and 

 lodged against the tall grass and "black mangrove" bushes sur- 



