LARID^ - THE GULLS AND TERNS — STERNA. 315 



there two eggs together. The birds, after having once risen, kept flying around the 

 grove, and their cries might have been heard at a considerable distance. On the dis- 

 charge of a gun, or a loud shout, there was complete stillness for a few moments, and 

 then the noise recommenced. 



The Sooty Tern is mentioned in Dr. Pickering's Journal as occurring at nearly all 

 the points in the Pacific Ocean visited by the United States Exploring Expedition ; 

 and is shown to be one of the most extensively diffused of all the aquatic birds, 

 being found both in temperate and tropical regions almost everywhere throughout 

 the world. 



Professor Alfred Kewton, toward the end of May, 1857, saw several individuals of 

 this species about :nidway between St. Thomas and Santa Cruz ; and Mr. Osbert 

 Salvin, on the 29th of May, 1859, when passing along the south side of Tortole and 

 St. John's, also saw numbers of them. They came close to the ship, and he could 

 make them out quite well. This species is of occasional occurrence in Bermuda. 

 Two instances are mentioned by Major Wedderburn, and one is also furnished by 

 Mr. Hurdis. Its presence there seemed generally to be due to the occurrence of a 

 severe gale, by which it had been driven upon the shore. 



This bird occurs at Jamaica, and its eggs constitute an article of considerable 

 commercial importance. The Pedro Keys are the resort of this species, as also of 

 the Anovs stoUdus and of other sea-fowl. This Tern is the " Egg-bird " of Jamaica. 

 On the 9th of May, 1832, Audubon visited a low island among the Tortugas on which 

 large numbers of this species were breeding. On landing it seemed to him for a 

 moment, as he says, as if the birds would raise him from the ground, so thickly 

 were they crowded around him, and so rapid were the motions of their wings ; while 

 their cries were deafening. The birds might easily have been caught while they were 

 sitting, or when scrambling through the bushes to escape from the intruders. The 

 sailors, provided with sticks, knocked down the Terns as they flew over them ; and 

 in less than half an hour more than a hundred were killed, and several baskets of 

 eggs collected. The latter proved to be delicious eating, in whatever way cooked. 

 During each night, or between 2 and 4 A. m., a large number of these Terns went 

 out to sea to feed, being able to do this by night as well as by day. This species is 

 said rarely to alight on the watei*, and never to dive headlong in pursuit of fish, as 

 the smaller Terns are wont to do, but passes over its prey in a curved line and picks 

 it up. This Tern may often be seen following in the wake of a porpoise, capturing 

 some of the fish thus brought within reach. Its flight is firm and steady, rather than 

 light and buoyant, and it hovers close to the surface of the water, in the manner of 

 a Gull, to pick up floating objects. 



Audubon states that the Sooty Tern always lays three eggs, and that he never 

 found more than this number. When wounded, and seized by the hand, this bird 

 bites severely and utters a plaintive cry ; this cry differs from its usual note, which is 

 loud and shrill, resembling the syllables oo-ee, oo-ee. The nests were scooped near the 

 stems of the bushes, under the shade of the boughs, and were within a few inches of 

 one another. The egg measured 2.13 inches in length by 1.50 in breadth; it has 

 a pale cream-colored ground, is marked with various tints of light umber, and has 

 lighter marks of purple, which appear as if within the shell. The eggs in the Smith- 

 sonian Collection from the Tortugas have the ground-color of a light pinkish cream, 

 and are marked with blotches of a rich reddish chestnut, with cloudings of lavender 

 of two shades. In some specimens the reddish chestnut-color of the markings 

 deepens almost to blackness. 



