GLIMPSES OF LIFE ALONG A CORAL REEF. 319 



"When a long way off we noticed the birds hovering over the place, 

 and on lauding, their numbers increased until the air far above and 

 around us fairly swarmed with the gliding forms of this graceful 

 tern, and the strange medley of their harsh cries, together with the 

 whirring of thousands of Vv'ings, was nearly deafening. They were 

 nesting amid a tangle of shrubs three or four feet high, along a low, 

 narrow ridge of one of the islands, a few yards from the water. Part- 

 ing the bushes aside, we could see the old birds sitting on their eggs, 

 and caught with our hands several which were snared in the vines as 

 they attempted to fly. This tern resembles a large and powerful 

 swallow. It has a sharply-forked tail, snow-white neck and breast, 

 while the rest of the plumage is a dead black. They nest close to- 

 gether under the bushes, laying a single egg on the ground, without 

 nest of any kind. Their eggs are easily distinguished from any others 

 which we saw, being white or ci-eamy and boldly spotted all over with 

 umber and lilac. Even in these remote places the numbers of sea-birds 

 are being yearly lessened by the natives, who persistently collect their 

 eggs for food. The rare flamingo is now reduced to a colony of a few 

 hundred on Abaco, where, as I was informed by an old settler, they 

 numbered thousands several years ago, and similarly the beautiful tropic 

 bird, which is hunted chiefly for food, is being gradually exterminated. 



Close beside this key there was a small rock a few yards square, 

 with scarcely a spear of grass upon it, which a party of the Wilson's 

 tern {Sterna hirundo) held in undisputed possession. Their cone- 

 tipped, olive-green, and spotted eggs lay in twos and threes on the 

 bare surface of the limestone. Both this bird and the smaller edition 

 of it, the least tern {S. super ciliar is), which has similar habits, are 

 called " shanks " by the islanders, while on the North Carolina coast 

 (where we found both species breeding a month before) they are 

 known to the fishermen as "great" and "little strikers." The Wil- 

 son's tern has a wide range, and is one of the most beautiful of a large 

 and exceptionally striking family. It has a prominent black crest 

 and coral-red bill and feet. Like many of our most attractive birds, 

 it is shot down each season to satify the widespread demands of a 

 barbarous fashion. Its pearly wings, or as often the whole bird, 

 usually much distorted by the millinei', may be seen almost any day 

 in the streets, pinned on to ladies' hats. 



As we approached Paw-paw Key some tall bushes on the island 

 appeared to be draped in deep mourning. Presently, as a large black 

 company of birds rose one after another in the air, we recognized the 

 frigate-bird ( TachypeUs aquilus). I counted seventy of them as they 

 soared above our heads. These swarthy giants cut a memorable figure 

 against the sky, with their great angular wings, and long, forked tail. 

 They mount slowly upward in spiral curves, with all the ease and 

 grace of the hawk, until a safe height is reached, when they sail rap- 

 idly off to a distant island. The females are recognized by a con- 



