SANDWICH TERN. 635 



that I can have no doubt as to their specific identity. His 

 account of its habits is as follows : — " While travelling, it 

 advances by regular sharp flappings of its wings, which propel 

 it forward much in the manner of the Passenger Pigeon ; 

 Avhen single and remote from a flock, it pushes on with 

 redoubled speed. While plunging after the small mullets 

 and other diminutive fishes that form the principal part of 

 its food, it darts perpendicularly downwards with all the 

 agility and force of the Common and Arctic Terns, nearly 

 immersing the whole body at times, but rising instantly after, 

 and quickly regaining a position from which it can advanta- 

 geously descend anew. Should the fish disappear as the bird 

 is descending, the latter instantly recovers itself without 

 plunging into the water. Its cries are sharp, grating, and 

 loud enough to be heard at the distance of half a mile. They 

 are repeated at intervals while it is travelling, and kept up 

 incessantly when one intrudes upon it in its breeding grounds, 

 on which occasion it sails and dashes over your head, chiding 

 you with angry notes more disagreeable than pleasant to your 

 ear. How many days these birds had been laying when I 

 discovered the key on which they breed, I cannot say ; but 

 many of them were still engaged in depositing their eggs, and 

 none Avere as yet sitting on those which, being three together, 

 seemed to form the full complement. They had been dropped 

 on the sand, at short intervals, with scarcely any appearance 

 of a hollow for their reception. In some instances they were 

 laid at the foot of a scanty tuft of grass ; but all were fully 

 exposed to the heat of the sun, which at this time I thought 

 almost sufficient to cook them. The eggs varied as much in 

 colour as those of the Arctic Tern and Foolish Guillemot, and 

 were equally disproportionate to the size of the bird, their 

 average length being two inches and one-eighth, their greatest 

 breadth one inch and three-and-a-half-eighths. They are of 

 an oval form, but rather sharp at the larger end. Their 

 ground colour is yellowish-grey, varying in depth, and all 

 more or less spotted, blotched, or marked with different tints 

 of umber, pale blue and reddish. I never saw the Sandwich 

 Tern on any other portion of our coasts than between the 

 Florida Keys and Charleston, and from whence it first came 



