MARSH TERN. 269 



MARSH TERN. 



(Sterna anglica, Mohtagv, Orn. Diet. Suppl. with a figure. Temm. 

 Man. dOrn. ii. p. 744. Sterna aranea, Wilsox, viii. p. 143. pi. 72. 

 fig. 6. BoNAP. Sjnops. No. 285. Phil. Museum, No. 3521.) 



Sp. Charact. — Bill very short, stout, and black ; quill shafts white ; 

 tail slightly fi^rked ; tarsus black, 1^ inches long, and about equal 

 in length with the middle toe ; webs deeply sinuated ; hind nail 

 straight. — Summer plumnge ; with the crown deep black. TJ^nter 

 dress, the crown white ; and with a black spot on each side of the 

 eye. 



This bird, rare in England, notwithstanding its scientific 

 name, is very common in Eastern Europe, particularly in 

 Hungary, and on the confines of Turkey. In the new con- 

 tinent, it inhabits the whole coast of the Atlantic, from New- 

 England to Brazil. In Europe it affects the covert of rushy 

 marshes, in the vicinity of the great lakes, and rarely ever 

 visits the sea-coast or the ocean. They have also been 

 seen inland, in Missouri, by Mr. Say, and probably penetrate 

 still farther into the interior to the coasts of the great 

 lakes of the North American continent. Wilson first ob- 

 served the species on the shores of Cape May, in New- Jer- 

 sey, where parties were engaged, darting down like Swal- 

 lows over the salt marshes, in quest of some aquatic in- 

 sects or spiders which occur upon the surface of the water. 

 The food of the species, while here, appears wholly com- 

 posed of insects ; in Europe also their fare is similar, ana 

 they feed upon lepidopterous insects or moths as well as 

 other kinds, showing, indeed by this peculiarity of appetite, 

 their independence on the produce of the ocean, and their 

 indifference to salt water, as preferred to fresh. 



The Marsh Terns, keep apart by themselves, and breed 

 in company on the borders of the salt marshes, among the 

 23* 



