40 LESSER TERN. 



whicli their voice strikingly resembles. A Humming Bird, that had 

 accidentally strayed to the place, appeared suddenly among this out- 

 rageous group, several of whom darted angrily at him ; but he shot like ■ 

 an arrow from them, directing his flight straight towards the ocean. I 

 have no doubt but the distressing cries of the Terns had drawn this 

 little creature to the scene, having frequently witnessed his anxious 

 curiosity on similar occasions in the woods. 



The Lesser Tern feeds on beetles, crickets, spiders, and other insects, 

 which it picks up from the marshes ; as well as on small fish, on which 

 it plunges at sea. Like the former, it also makes extensive incursions, 

 inland, along the river courses, and has frequently been shot several 

 liundred miles from the sea. It sometimes sits for hours together on 

 the sands, as if resting after the fatigues of flight to which it is exposed. 



The Lesser Tern is extremely tame and unsuspicious, often passing 

 you in its flight, and within a few yards, as it traces the windings and 

 indentations of the shore in search of its favorite prawns and skippers. 

 Indeed at such times it appears either altogether heedless of man, or its 

 eagerness for food overcomes its apprehensions for its own safety. We 

 read in ancient authors, that the fishermen used to float a cross of 

 wood, in the middle of which was fastened a small fish for a bait, with 

 limed twigs stuck to the four corners, on which the bird darting was 

 entangled by the wings. But this must have been for mere sport, or 

 for its feathers, the value of the bird being scarcely worth the trouble, 

 as they are generally lean, and the flesh savoring strongly of fish. 



The Lesser Tern is met with in the south of Russia, and about the 

 Black and Caspian Sea; also in Siberia about the Irtish.* With the 

 former, it inhabits the shores of England during the summer, where it 

 breeds, and migrates, as it does here, to the south, as the cold of autumn 

 approaches 



This species is nine and a half inches long, and twenty inches in 

 extent ; bill bright reddish yellow ; nostril pervious ; lower mandible 

 angular ; front white, reaching in two narroAV points over the eye ; 

 crown, and band through the eye, and hind-head, black, tapering to a 

 point as it descends ; cheeks, sides of the neck, and whole lower parts, 

 of the most rich and glossy white, like the brightest satin ; upper parts 

 of the back and wings a pale glossy ash or light lead color ; the outer 

 edges of the three exterior primaries, black, their inner edges white ; 

 tail pale ash, but darker than the back, and forked, the two outer 

 feathers an inch longer, tapering to a point; legs and feet reddish 

 yellow ; Avebbed feet, claws and hind toe, exactly formed like those of 

 the preceding. The female nearly resembles the male, with the excep- 

 tion of having the two exterior tail feathers shorter. 



* Pennant. 



