LEAST TERN. 225 



graceful vessel spreads her snowy sails and glides blithely away 

 through the summer seas ; all is gayety and merriment on board. 

 But among the barren sand-hills, fast fading in the distance, many a 

 poor bird is seeking its mate, many a downy orphan is crying for 

 the food its dead mother can no longer supply, many a pretty 

 speckled egg lies cold and deserted. Buzzing flies settle upon the 

 bloody bodies, and the tender young pine away and die. A grace- 

 ful, pearl-tinted wing surmounts a jaunty hat for a brief season, and 

 then is cast aside, and Muskegat lies forgotten, with the bones of 

 the mother and her offspring bleaching on the white sand. This 

 is no fancy sketch ; all the world over the sad destruction goes 

 on. It is indeed the price of blood that is paid for nodding plumes. 

 Science may be, nay, certainly is, cruel at times ; but not one tithe 

 of the suffering is caused by her disciples that the votaries of the 

 goddess Fashion yearly sanction." 



LEAST TERN. 



SILVERY TERN. LITTLE STRIKER. 



Sterna antillarum. 



Char. Upper parts pale pearl gray of a silvery tint ; crown and nape 

 black, the forehead with a patch of white ; outer wing-feathers dusky ; 

 under parts white ; bill yellow, tipped with black ; legs and feet orange. 

 Length about 9 inches. 



Nest. A slight hollow in the sand of a sea-beach. 



Eggs. 2-4 (usually 3) ; pale to deep buff, sometimes tinged with olive, 

 profusely blotched with brown and lavender; average size about 1.25 

 X 0.95. 



The Silvery Tern, apparently of Temminck, and the Lesser 

 Tern of Wilson, is an inhabitant of the American continent, 

 and was first detected as distinct from the European species 

 by Prince de Neuwied, in Brazil. In the United States it 

 arrives from its hybernal retreat later than the Common Tern, 

 and is not met with so far to the north, being unknown in the 

 Canadian fur countries. These birds are, however, common 

 in the Middle and New England States, being frequently seen 

 coasting along the shore? or over pools and salt-marshes in 

 quest of the insects and small shrimps which constitute their 

 favorite fare ; they also occasionally dart down upon small fish 



VOL. II. — 15 



