668 GELOCHELIDON ANGLICA. 



marshes of the mouths of the Mississippi in the beginning of 

 April ; and by following the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, 

 you will find that it comes to us from beyond the Texas, as 

 many make their appearance along that coast in a straggling 

 manner during spring, there being seldom more than a dozen 

 together, and generally only two. Their journeys are per- 

 formed over the waters of the sea, a fcAv hundred yards from 

 the shore ; and when in want of food they diverge from 

 their ordinary course, -and ranging over the land satisfy their 

 hunger, when they resume their route. 



" Excepting the Cayenne Tern, I know no American 

 species that has so powerful a flight as the present. To this 

 power is added an elegant lightness, that renders it most 

 conspicuous and pleasing during the love season. It swims 

 buoyantly, but not swiftly. Whilst travelling or inspecting 

 the pools of the marshes, or the bayous intersecting them, it 

 passes at a considerable height with quickly repeated move- 

 ments of the wings ; and when looking for food, it darts 

 through the air and slides towards the waters, as if about to 

 dive for fish. I have observed them coming over large mud- 

 flats and marshes to bayous ; but I believe that these birds 

 never immerse themselves in the water, as other Terns are 

 wont to do ; nor do I think that they procure fish, as, on 

 examining a number of individuals near the mouths of the 

 Mississippi, in the Texas, and at Great Egg Harbour, I 

 never found any other food in their stomachs than insects of 

 various kinds, including coleoptera, which were unknown to 

 me. In many instances, when near the places first men- 

 tioned, my friend Edward Harris and myself saw them 

 catching insects on wing over a small pond of almost putrid 

 water, the surface of which was entirely covered with a thick 

 green layer of water-plants. The same manner of procuring 

 food was observed over the dry land at Barataria, where they 

 seized insects by diving as it were close to the ground, and 

 again rising to a considerable height. Their plunges were 

 performed with great velocity, generally by the males and 

 females alternately. In two or three instances, I have seen 

 some of these birds plunge towards the water at sea, but 

 always close on shore ; and have supposed that when insects 



