Page:Auk Volume 13-1896.djvu/83

 ^"'rs^ 111 ] Mackay, Terns of Muskeget Island. 47 this form, of which Dr. Merrill has sent me nine specimens from Fort Sherman, is apparently intermediate between M. f. montana and M. f. guttata. It differs from both, however, in the ground color of its upper parts which are generally of a dark but clear ashy brown very unlike the faded grayish brown of mouta»a and with but little of the rich, dull rusty which suffuses the plumage of guttata. Of the thirteen specimens of merrilli one taken in autumn affords the nearest approach to guttata. The spring birds (some of which were collected in April and May) are all essentially similar to the type of merrilli. Dr. Merrill writes me that this Song Sparrow breeds at Fort Sherman where he took four nests and sets of eggs in 1895. THE TFJR.NS OF MUSKEGET ISLAND, MASSACHU- SETTS. PART II. BY GEORGE H. MACKAY Referring my readers to 'The Auk' for January, 1895, page 32, I now desire to put before them under the same title, some further data collected during the past summer. It had been my intention to visit Muskeget this year on the same dates as last, that comparisons might be better made of results. Had my purpose been carried out, which it was not, such would not have proved conclusive, for the reason that although the Terns arrived a week earlier than they did in 1894 and 1893, and ten days earlier than in 1892, they apparently did not commence to lay their eggs as early this season as last, for it was not until May 28, 1895, that the first two nests, each containing one egg, were dis- covered, notwithstanding Mr. Sandsbury had taken daily walks over Muskeget Island proper for this purpose, commencing on May 20. The first eggs noted in 1894 were found on May 21.