TERNS 



.■>/ 



the distinguishing features of this hird. \\ i' 

 soon learned to recognize their harsh call note, 

 for each morning they came flying over the camp, 

 crying Crack-a-da\-o .' Crack-a-ilay-o ! 



Forster's Tern is readilv recognized hv its 

 deeply forked tail; the outer feathers are very 

 long and narrow. As it flits along over the water, 

 its sharp bill is ever pointing downward and its 

 eyes are watching the svn'face of tlie water. I'.e- 

 cause of its beautiful velvety plumage, the lung 

 pointed tail- and wing-feathers of this bird were 

 formerly a much-sought adornment for women's 

 hats. 



While the Black Tern resembles Forster's 

 Tern somewhat in size, yet Nature has made a 

 striking ditTerence in its dress. It can never be 

 mistaken when once seen, for its fure parts are 

 pure black and the wings and tail slaty-gray. 

 This bird and the Forster Tern differ in their 

 nesting habits from the Caspian, because thev do 

 not crowd together in a colony. They are 

 sociable, however, and like companv. The nests 

 of both these birds are often a little floating mass 

 of vegetation on the surface of the water, or 

 oftentimes the nest is placed on a muskrat 

 house. Where one nest is found, a few others 

 are likely to be somewhere around in the same 

 locality. I have at times found nests that con- 

 tained eggs of both Forster's and Caspian Terns. 



.V peculiar habit of these swallow-like birds 

 tended greatly toward their destruction at the 

 hands of plume hunters. When a hunter shot 

 one of them and it ivV. w<.)un(led to the surface, 

 all the other Terns nearby would be attracted 

 to the bird on the water and they hovered about 

 and served as easy marks for the jilumer. 



By building a blind in which to hide nearby a 

 colony of Caspian Terns on Malheur Lake, we 

 had a splendid chance to study the home life of 

 these birds. There were several hundred nest- 

 ing close together, yet housekeeping was in no 

 sense a communal matter. Fach bird had its 

 own particular nest spot and the invasion of 

 that place by any other Terns meant a challenge 

 for tight. When the Terns had voung, their 

 greatest anxiety seemed to be to keep them 

 crouching low in the nest, so that they would not 

 run away and get lost in the crowd. If a young 

 bird did start to run out of the nest, he was 

 immediately pounced u])on by his own parents 

 and pecked and beaten until he dropped flat to 

 the ground or hid in the leaves. If a young bird 

 ran to a neighboring nest or old bird for pro- 

 tection, he received a fusillade of blows that 

 knocked him over. A young bird, therefore, 

 that wandered from his own nest spot was likely 

 to be pecked and beaten to death. 



William L. Finley. 



ROYAL TERN 



Sterna maxima Boddacrt 



.\. O r. Xuniber 65 See Color Plate 1 



Other Name. — Cayenne Tern. 



General Description. — Length, 20 inches. Color, 

 wliite with very pale bluish-gray mantle. \ prominent 

 glossy greenish-black crest on back of head. 



Description. — Adults in Summer: Crown, glossy 

 greenish-hlack not extending below eyes: mantle, very 

 pale bluish-.srray, shading to white on rump and ends of 

 inner secondaries ; first five primaries with grayish- 

 black spaces toward tips ; rest of primaries and most 

 of secondaries, pale pearl-blue; sides of head, chin, 

 throat, rump, tail, and under parts, white; tail, forked 

 for half its length; bill, ofange-rcd : feet, blackish; iris, 

 brown. .Anui.TS in Winter: Forehead, white; most of 

 crown, variegated with black and white, the black ex- 



tending forward on side of head as far as eye; tail, 

 tinged with color of mantle and darkening toward tip 

 into a deeper gray ; less forked than in summer. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: .\ hollow in the sand. 

 Egcs : 2 or 3, whitish to yellowish-drab, blotched with 

 dark umber, sepia, and lavender. 



Distribution. — Tropical coasts north to United 

 States ; breeds in West Indies and on south Atlantic 

 and Gulf coasts from Virginia to Texas; wanders casu- 

 ally to Massachusetts ; not rare in summer from San 

 Francisco Bay southward to western Me.xico ; winters 

 from southern California and Gulf of Me.xico south to 

 Peru and Brazil, and on west coast of Africa from 

 Gibraltar to .Angola. 



Because of its large size and conspicuous the smaller Gulls by the manner in which they 



reddish bill the Royal Tern is one of the most hold their heads while in flight. ,\ CniU's bill 



striking birds to be seen along our southern points forward on a plane with its body, while 



coast. They may easily be distinguished from a Tern carries its bill pointed directly downward 



