XI 



Least Tern; Sea Swallow 

 74. Sterna antillarum 



This is the smallest of the Terns and is popularly- 

 known as the Sea Swallow. Having once seen the bird, 

 with its trim wings and forked tail, in flight, one can read- 

 ily see the resemblance to a Swallow. The upper sur- 

 face of the Least Tern is of a delicate pearl gray. 

 The bird has a black cap, and is pure white on its under 

 surface ; it shows much docility in disposition, when not 

 disturbed, and its ferocity in protesting your presence 

 in its nesting domain is equally marked. 



These Terns nest over a large area of the United 

 States, and are about nine inches long, or the same size 

 as the Robin. Their bills are tipped with black, and led 

 me, when I first saw one, to believe, as it flew over me, 

 that it was carrying a small moUusk. 



The nest of the Sea Swallow is like that of the Black 

 Skimmer and many other shore birds, being simply a 

 depression in the sandy beach or a broken shell heap 

 above high tide. Most of the nests I have found have 

 contained only two eggs. (Fig. 14.) The nest is made 

 in an isolated locality away from those of other Terns 

 and Gulls. The eggs are of a whitish-brown, with min- 

 ute chocolate-colored specks all over the surface. 



These birds feed from a height, from which, as soon 

 as they have discovered it, they hover over a school of 

 minnows, which they capture, not by diving like the 

 Pelican, but by a skimming process with the bill barely 

 touching the water. 



While I was walking along the shore of the Laguna 

 de la Madre, on the Texas Gulf Coast, two of these grace- 

 ful Terns flew over my head, screaming as if they were 

 being tortured by some unseen hand. It was in their 

 nesting season and I understood the meaning of all their 

 noise and confusion — I was near their nest; they were 

 protesting against the intrusion on their shell-strewn, 



