SAND DUNES AND SALT MARSHES 



through the strenuous e:fforts of the Audubon 

 Society and of other bird lovers, the killing 

 was stayed, and, to the great joy of all natu- 

 ralists, the graceful birds are again increasing. 

 I have hopes that the least tern, which bred 

 at Ipswich over forty years ago, and has been 

 brought almost to extinction in the same way, 

 may return again to its old haunts, now that 

 fashion has been curbed by law. 



The arctic tern closely resembles the com- 

 mon tern, but lacks the black tip to its bill, 

 and has a somewhat different voice. It is far 

 less common. Still rarer are the roseate and 

 the great Caspian tern, but the little black 

 tern is a fairly common migrant. All of these, 

 I believe, are happily increasing in numbers 

 since they have been afforded better protec- 

 tion. 



It is a great pleasure to watch the graceful 

 terns as they sport along the shore, now cov- 

 ering some sand bank as with a great white 

 sheet composed of many hundreds of individ- 

 uals, now rising and wheeling first one way 

 and then another, all screaming loudly, now 

 scattering and plunging for fish. Every now 

 and then the bird w^atcher will notice a brown 

 or mottled or jet black bird, lithe and graceful 



134 



