180 
FOURTEENTH REPORT. 
of the islands. This year a pair of killdeer nested on the bare gravel 
near the light-house and only a few feet from the cement walk. Captain 
McDonald says it is the first time the species has bred here in the past 
thirty years. The wood duck, which formerly nested here, has been 
absent for several years, and the piping plover, which was a rare breeder 
as late as 1900, has not been observed since then. From these examples 
and the few pairs of breeding birds each season it will be seen that the 
list of breeding birds probably varies from year to year and to a much 
greater degree than in an area of the same size on the adjacent main- 
land. 
LIST OF SPECIES. 
1. Lams argentatus. Herring Gull. — This was one of the few species 
seen every day, and a flock of about two hundred, mostly adult birds, was 
seen on Gull Rock and on Little Charity Island (Figs. 16, 20). These birds 
visited daily the several fishnets and were always about when the latter 
were lifted, to feed on the fish. The light-house keepers thought they had 
been about Gull Island since the ice went out. The writer often saw flocks 
of forty or fifty about sundown, flying high and due north, and was told 
that the species breeds on islands about Thunder Bay, seventy five miles 
north of the Charities. It may lie that some or all of this flock bred there 
and fed about Saginaw Bay. It is possible that all were males and had 
little interest in the nest and young, or they may have been unmated birds. 
Toward the latter part of the month the flock was increased by immature 
birds, probably the young of the year. It is possible that the species once 
nested about the islands of Saginaw Bay, but at the present time none are 
known to do so. 
2. Sterna hirundo. Common Tern. — A large colony of this species 
nested on Gull Rock. Most of the eggs were laid in June, but on July 14 
the writer found fresh eggs as well as young birds of all sizes, many of them 
in nearly full feather, although not able to fly. When alarmed dozens of 
young birds took to the water and swam off for some distance while others 
hid in the thick growth of smartweecl ( Polygonum hydropiper L.) that 
almost covered 'the islet (Fig. 16). The usual number of eggs seemed to 
be three, although some nests contained four, a very few five, and one had 
six. The space is very small for such a large colony and the nests were so 
crowded that many of them no doubt contained the eggs of two birds. 
A few dead young were seen, and one adult bird was found dead (Figs. 
18-19). The writer estimated the number of adult birds in this colony 
at one thousand. 
On July 28 the colony was again visited and the conditions were found 
to be much the same as on the previous visit, except that hundreds of 
newly fledged young were out on the bare rocks at the end of the ledge 
(Fig. 17). A few nests contained eggs (some probably unfertilized) and 
newly hatched young, while many young in all stages of growth were hiding 
among the rocks and in the thick growth of smartweed. 
3. Mergus americana. Merganser. — This is a rather common breeder 
on the islands. Adult females with broods of young were found on our 
arrival at Charity Island, July 6, at which time all the young had evidently 
hatched. An adult bird and brood were seen at Gull Rock on July 10, 
and the young were still small and covered with down. A brood of eight 
was seen on the rocks at South Point (Fig. 14), Charity Island, on July 
17, another of five young on the west side between Snake and South Points, 
