Penobscot Bay, Maine.
1896
July 12
(No 5)
the despoilers.
  I should have mentioned that on Ship Island the Terns
appeared to be all Wilson's and that they were nesting chiefly
along the upper edge of a steep gravelly bluff where in places
the nests were only two or three feet apart. I found only
one nest in the mowing field where the grass was, in most
places, much too long & dense to suit these birds.
I took four photographs of the flying birds using some of
the dead Terns to attract as large a number as possible
over one spot. They would quickly collect to the number
of a hundred or more and hover over the dead bird for
two or three minutes, then separate & fly off.
  The owner of Trumpet Island told me that it contained
only five acres of dry land & that Ship Island has eight
acres. Ship Island has fully as many Terns as Trumpet; in
fact there were more there to-day. The two islands together
have this season about 400 pairs of birds. The channel between
them is about ¼ of a mile in width. Lying outside Ship
Island are two small ledges (one called Barge Island) which
Conary & Watrous visited to-day. They found a few pairs
of Terns nesting on each.
  Besides Terns & Sheldrakes we found nesting on Ship Island
Savanna & Song Sparrows & a few Spotted Sandpipers.
  While I was on Trumpet Island this morning (or rather just
before we landed there) ten Sheldrake flying together passed
around the S. end of the island & went off over the
Bay to the north west. I have no doubt that at least six &
perhaps eight or ten pairs of birds have nested (or rather tried
to nest) on these islands this season.