238 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



central portion of the island are low rolling sand hills and small 

 sand dunes; the beaches are mostly flat and sandy, though in some 

 places stony. Vegetation is scarce over most of the island, consist- 

 ing of a sparse growth of beach grass (AmmophUa arundinaca) and 

 a low-growing poison ivy {Rhus radicans) , with scattering patches, 

 some of them quite extensive, of bayberry (Myrica carolinensis) 

 and beach plum (Primus maritima) bushes. In some places the 

 beach grass grows tall and thick or in dense clumps or tufts* The 

 isolation of this island, the variety of nesting sites offered, and the 

 abundant food supply to be obtained in the adjacent shoals and tide 

 rips make Muskeget an ideal breeding ground for common and 

 roseate terns and laughing gulls. I know of no more extensive or 

 interesting colony of these two terns on the American coast. A visit 

 to Muskeget Island in June or July, the height of the breeding sea- 

 son, is an experience never to be forgotten. As we approach it in 

 our little sailboat a cloud of minute white specks is seen hovering 

 over it and the air is full of birds coming and going, for not all of 

 this vast multitude can find food enough in the immediate vicinity; 

 hence they wander far to the shores of Martha's Vineyard and Cape 

 Cod. 



As we land and walk out among the sand hills the terns rise from 

 the ground on all sides and circle about us overhead in an ever- 

 increasing cloud. Some are darting down at our heads with harsh 

 and grating cries of protest, others are drifting around us closely at 

 hand. If we look up into the air we are made fairly dizzy ; for as 

 far as we can see, extending up into the deep blue sky, is a bewilder- 

 ing maze of whirling birds, flying in every direction and at varying 

 heights in countless thousands. Their plaintive notes when heard 

 singly are nearly musical, but the combined din of such a multitude 

 of voices is almost deafening in its effect, and for days afterwards 

 we can hear the rhythmic chorus ringing in our ears. If we shoot 

 down one of them every voice is hushed ; the silence is appalling as 

 they come gliding in from every side in sympathetic horror to hover 

 over their fallen companion and try to encourage him to rise again. 

 Some observers have attributed this action to another motive — the 

 desire to kill and remove a useless member of their society—but I have 

 never seen any evidence to support this theory. Now is the greedy 

 murderer's chance, as the plume hunters have learned to their ad- 

 vantage, for as fast as the terns are shot down others will hurry in, 

 and, as if at a given signal, all will burst out again into an excited 

 chorus of angry cries of protest, hovering over and darting down at 

 their dead companions in confusion and despair ; but if no more are 

 shot they seem soon to forget, the crowd gradually disperses and all 

 goes on as if nothing had happened. Perhaps a marsh hawk may 

 appear upon the scene quartering over the low ground in search of 



