254 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Behavior. — I have known them to fly directly at my head to within 

 a few feet, when they suddenly swerve upwards. As they dart 

 down they emit in their rage a i-apidly repeated and vibratory tut tut 

 or hik^ kih.^ Mk^ followed by a piercing, screaming tearr., which is 

 shriller than that of the common terns and ends in a rising inflec- 

 tion, which has been well characterized by Brewster (1883) as 

 " sounding very like the squeal of a pig." He says " the bird also 

 has a short, harsh note similar to that of Forster's tern." Grinnell 

 (1900) says that the teasing cries of the young "closely resemble 

 the usual note of the white-throated swift in California." 



The Arctic tern, like the common tern, kittiwake, and others, is 

 frequently harassed by the various species of jaegers, and after 

 much twisting and turning is forced to drop the fish, which is at 

 once snapped up by its pursuer. Although terns frequently quarrel 

 among themselves, the various species often rest peaceably together. 

 The former pernicious practices which led to the almost complete 

 annihilation of terns for millinery purposes have already been de- 

 scribed at length under the common tern. It is fortunate that these 

 days of slaughter are passed. The increase of terns along the New 

 England coast in the last 10 or 15 years has been very marked. In 

 regions where game laws are but little understood or regarded the 

 killing of such easy victims as terns still goes on. I have seen on 

 the Labrador coast both common and Arctic terns that had been shot 

 to feed captive black foxes. 



Dutcher (1903) quotes Norton in regard to mortality among the 

 3^oung of the Arctic tern on the Maine coast as follows: 



Abundant as they were living, I noticed quite an extensive mortality among 

 the downy young, and their decaying bodies vpere scattered over the island. 

 There was no visible cause, but two things suggested themselves — one an 

 epidemic ; the other that the damp, cold summer just passed had not supplied 

 sufficient warmth and sunlight to keep them from being chilled. 



In another place (1905) he quotes Capt. James Hall, of Matinicus 

 Kock, Maine, as expressing " the belief that food is scarce and starva- 

 tion is the cause of much death late in the summer." Palmer (1890) 

 says: 



In no other species of bird with whose breeding habits I am familiar has 

 nature been so prodigal of life as in the case of the young terns on Funk Island. 

 The surface of the granite rock of the island has been corroded by time and 

 the elements to such a degree that many shallow depressions have been rotted 

 as it were. These have been filled with water by the abundant rain aiid form- 

 veritable death traps to the young terns. Many of them leave the nest when 

 a few days old and wander about. Numbers are thus lost among the rocks 

 and drowned while trying to get back to their parents. This explanation !^eems 

 to me to account for the numbers of dead young found in the pools. 



It is possible, however, there may be some other explanation, for 

 young terns are expert swimmers. 



