Page:Bird-lore Vol 08.djvu/292

 242 Bird -Lore It is hard to estimate the numbers in the Gull and Tern colonies at the present time, but they have increased enormously in the few years that they have been protected. A conservative estimate of the number of young birds this year is about 50,000. One warden was employed in Massachusetts who had charge of the Weepecket Islands. He estimates the increase to be 2,600 young Common and Roseate Terns. In addition, the colonies of Terns on Penikese and Muskeget Islands are doing well. In New York, two wardens were employed by the Association, and one by Mr. Hatch, of New York City, to guard the Herring Gulls on his islands, the Four Brothers, in Lake Champlain. On these islands there were 107 nests this year, as against 74 nests in 1905, a gain of nearly forty-five per cent. The Association wardens guard the Terns at Gardiner's Island and report a very large colony. In this connection it is pleasing to be able to present the appended confirmation of this report from Mr. John H. Sage, Secretary of the American Ornithologists' Union, who writes: " There is a marked increase in the number of Terns seen along the shore near and in front of my cottage at Weekapaug, R. I., and I hear excellent reports from the vicinity of Gardiner's Island. One friend said he certainly saw 2,000 birds there in June." Your president was greatly pleased to find a young Tern just able to fly- near the shore of Great Island, in Great South Bay, Long Island, N. Y. This indicates that Terns have commenced to breed there again, after an absence of nearly twenty years. Thousands of them used to breed in that locality up to the years 1883-4, when they were mercilessly slaughtered for millinery ornaments. With rigid protection it may be possible to repopulate this great bay with these beautiful and graceful birds. Early in September Terns were quite plentiful at Fire Island Inlet, and it was certainly a pleasing sight to see them about their old fishing grounds. Unusual numbers of Black Terns were seen in New York Harbor in September. All of these facts indicate that the protection given to Gulls and Terns is showing good results in the increased numbers of these species that are seen along the coast and in the bays and harbors. In New Jersey, two wardens were employed to guard the only colonies of Laughing Gulls left in the state. The total result for the season was probably not over 1,500 young birds, as a storm tide destroyed all of the first laying at the Stone Harbor colony. Notwithstanding all the efforts of this Association to give protection, Terns seem to have abandoned the New Jersey coast as a breeding-place. There may be a few individuals breedings but no colonies still exist. In Virginia, seven wardens were employed, all on the Eastern Shore. This is a large territory covering many scores of square miles of beach, salt marsh and interlacing tide creeks. It is a physical impossibility for the