TERNS 



>7 



The lilack Tern is a species of reallv unique 

 personality, and might be characterized as the 

 " aquatic swallow " of the sloughs of the north- 

 west. It may be recognized as the dark gray bird 

 with black under parts, in general form and mo- 

 tions not unlike a Purple Martin, which mav be 

 seen flitting about over the prairies, especially 

 in the vicinity of wet grounds or sloughs, pursu- 

 ing insects like any Swallow. In late summer 

 and early autumn these birds gather into large 

 loose flocks, and are very much in evidence. 

 Where the Franklin's Gull is found, the Black 

 Tern hardly can fail to be present, though, as the 

 Tern is much more widely distributed, the con- 

 verse is not true. 



persistent attacks. On one occasion they hit me 

 so hard on the top of the head that, even though 

 I wore a cloth cap. their blows gave me a severe 

 headache, .\fter hatching, the young do not 

 remain long in the frail nests, but quickly take 

 to the water, and swim about through the aquatic 

 vegetation, watched over by their parents, and 

 brooded from time to time wherever they may 

 crawl out ujion any convenient spot. 



As far as is definitely known, these Terns 

 breed only in the western interior of the United 

 States and Canada. On one occasion, however, 

 when I landed on a low sandy island on the At- 

 lantic coast, near Cape Charles. Virginia. I was 

 surprised to find a considerable number of them. 



Drawing by R. I- Brasher 



BLACK TERN ii nat. size) 

 A Tern with many Swallow habits 



Here, in these sloughs and marshes, it breeds 

 in abundance, and is one of the last of all to 

 dep(.>sit its eggs — about the middle of June. The 

 nest is the merest apology for such, being a slight 

 depression, lined with a few wet stems, on some 

 little hummock of mud or dt^bris which may 

 happen to project from the water. Sometimes 

 the nests are partly floating, but heavv rains must 

 work havoc with them. Two or three eggs are 

 laid. 



The parents are very solicitous when their 

 home is approached. They dart about screaming 

 and make angry swoops at the head of the in- 

 truder, in fact often striking hard with their 

 bills. More than once I have sufTered from their 



all in full adult [)lumage, with black breasts. 

 They were with other species of Terns, and acted 

 exactly as on their western breeding-grounds, 

 hovering over me screaming, and dashing furi- 

 ously at my head. Unfortunately there had 

 been a high storm tide, which had destroyed 

 every nest on this barren sand bar, including 

 those of Forster's Terns and those of Black Skim- 

 mers. Both of these latter had constructed new 

 nests and were resentful of intrusion. \\'here 

 the Black Terns hovered there were little hol- 

 lows in the sand, lined with grass, smaller than 

 those of the other Terns, just the size that the 

 species constructs in the West. It was unfortu- 

 nate that I could not return to the island later, 



