282 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. II, No. 8. 
only land vegetation. A small fish-house stands under the larger 
tree, and seems to furnish a shelter for the terns during violent 
storms. Here we found only Common and Black Terns and Spot- 
ted Sandpipers and a single Bronzed Cackle. No doubt the sand- 
pipers had reared their young here. Of the terns we estimated 
the Black at 20 and the Common at 2000 individuals, many of the 
latter young of the year. A careful count of the nests and eggs 
and squabs resulted as follows : Nests with eggs 232, without 
eggs 94 ; eggs 370 ; squabs 26 ; very young 25. Of the eggs by 
far the larger proportion were cracked and dry. Perhaps a quar- 
ter of them were pipped or almost ready to hatch. A few were 
rotten without being dr}'. 
The Chick island lies about a quarter of a mile a little east of 
due north from Big Chicken. It is a narrow rock reef, which the 
waves would easily wash over in storms were there water of more 
than a foot in depth within several rods of it. Smart weeds 
(Polygonum) grow in abundance along its eastern side. Here 
we saw some 1500 Common and 500 Black Terns, 20 American 
Herring Gulls, which were knee deep in the water on the north 
west extending reef, two Black Ducks and two Spotted Sandpipers. 
Fifty-one nests of the Common Tern were counted here, with the 
proportion of eggs and young as on Big Chicken. 
If the first island be called Big Chicken, and the smallest one 
Chick, why not call the middle sized one just Chicken ? Anyway 
it is another rock reef with relatively little drift rock anywhere 
upon it. It lies well above storm waves because the water 
about it is so shallow. There is an abundant growth of smart 
weed, even to the water’s edge, with a bunch of willows, each of 
which is about 6 inches in diameter, besides a considerable growth 
of smaller willows along the north side, The back-bone of this 
reef is without any sort of vegetation. Here the Common and Black 
Terns, the same two Black Ducks, and three Spotted Sandpipers 
greeted our arrival. There were 71 nests of the Common Tern 
on this rock. The Black Terns numbered about 200 individuals, 
and the Common perhaps 1700. The Black Terns were clearly 
not breeding on any of these islands, nor were the American Her- 
ring Gulls. The heat upon the rocks was so excessive that it 
seemed extremely doubtful if any of the very young terns could 
survive. The nests were fairly \#ell made of grass and drift ma- 
terial, but were exposed to the weather. I noticed one flest which 
was nothing but a dry fish. 
We were a little surprised to find Red-winged Blackbirds and 
Bronzed Crackles evidently breeding on the high and dry Hen 
island. Here, too, the House Wren had found a domicil. The 
seven acres of this loam-covered rock are covered by a considera- 
ble growth of hack berry trees, with a few rock maples interspersed, 
and a liberal fringe of willows. A fine peach orchard is an acqui- 
