64 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



The world's migration champion is the Arctic 

 Tern. It deserves its title of "Arctic," for it 

 nests as far north as land has been discovered ; 

 that is, as far north as the bird can find anything 

 stable on which to construct its nest. Indeed, so 

 arctic are the conditions under which it breeds 

 that the first nest found by man in this region, 

 only 7/<2° from the pole, contained a downy chick 

 surrounded by a wall of newly fallen snow that 

 had to be scooped out of the nest by the parent. 

 When the young are full-grown the entire family 

 leaves the Arctic and several months later they 

 are found skirting the edge of the Antarctic con- 

 tinent. 



What their track is over that 11,000 miles of 

 intervening space no one knows. A few scattered 

 individuals have been noted along the United 

 States coast south to Long Island, but the great 

 flocks of thousands and thousands of these Terns 

 which range from pole to pole have never been 

 noted bv an ornithologist competent to indicate 

 their preferred route and their time schedule. 

 The Arctic Terns arrive in the Far North about 

 Jimc 15. an<l leave about August 25, thus stay- 



ing f(jurteen weeks at the nesting site. They 

 jirobably spend a few weeks longer in the 

 winter than in the summer home, and this would 

 leave them scarcely twenty weeks for the round 

 trip of 22,000 miles. Not less than 150 miles 

 in a straight line must be their daily task, and 

 this is undoubtedly multiplied several times by 

 their zigzag twistings and turnings in pursuit 

 of food. 



The Arctic Tern has more hours of daylight 

 and sunshine than any other animal on the globe. 

 At the most northern nesting site the midnight 

 sun has already appeared before the birds' 

 arrival, and it never sets during their entire stay 

 at the breeding grounds. During two months of 

 their sojourn in the Antarctic the birds do not see 

 a sunset, and for the rest of the time the sun 

 dips only a little way below the horizon and 

 broad daylight is continuous. The birds there- 

 fore have twenty-four hours of daylight for at 

 least eight months in the year, and during the 

 nther four months have considerably more day- 

 light than darkness. 



Wells A\'. Cooke, in Bird Migration. 



ROSEATE TERN 

 Sterna dougalli Montagu 



i\. O. U. Xumber 72 See Color IMate 7 



Other Names. — Graceful Tern; McDougall's Tern. 



General Descriprion. — Length, 15 inches. Color 

 above, pearly-gray ; below, delicate rose-pink. 



Color — Adults in Summer: Crown, glossy black 

 reaching to lower border of eyes ; mantle, delicate pale 

 pearly-gray; neck all around and entire under parts, a 

 delicate rose pink; primaries, grayish-black strongly 

 silvered ; long tail-feathers, white on both ivchs; bill, 

 black, extreme tip, yellow, reddish at base; feet, ver- 

 milion; iris, brown. Adults in Winter: Forehead 

 and cheeks, white; crown, hind head, nape, and sides of 

 head, dusky mottled with white above ; below, pure 

 white without rosy tinge ; lesser wing-coverts, brown- 



ish ; tail, less forked, pearly-gray like back ; bill, dull 

 black with yellow tip and brown base. Imm.-\ture: 

 .Similar to winter adult. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nesting similar and eggs indis- 

 tinguishable from those of the Common Tern except by 

 comparison. 



Distribution. — Temperate and tropical regions ; 

 breeds locally from Sable Island to Long Island, N. Y., 

 and from the Bahamas to the Lesser Antilles and 

 Venezuela ; formerly from Maine to Florida ; rare 

 migrant in Central America; winters from the Bahamas 

 to Brazil; accidental in Ohio; occurs on the coasts of a 

 large part of the eastern hemisphere. 



The Roseate Tern is the embodiment of sym- 

 metry and grace — its flight the poetry of motion. 

 Its elegant form tapers and swells in lines of 

 beauty. Its lustrous plumage reflects the yellow 

 rays of the sun and the pale refracted light of 

 sea and sands in evanescent pink and rosy tints. 

 These are seen in perfection only in the living 

 bird and fade when the light of life fades from 

 its eyes. The stufted and distorted specimen on 



the museum shelf has lost the grace, beauty, and 

 color of the living thing and remains but a sorry 

 travesty of the life that is gone. It seems a bird 

 of ethereal origin, fitted only for the balmy airs 

 of tropic isles but it follows north the coast of 

 both hemispheres and is found in Maine on one 

 side of the Atlantic and in Scotland on the other. 

 Years ago, when fashion called for its plumage 

 and there was none to save, this bird was almost 



