42 The. Wilson Bulletin — No. 55. 



end of the egg". Tlic chick tlien rca(hly wriggled himself free 

 from the remainder of the shell. The yolk sac is drawn into 

 the body and closed at the end of the 20th day of incubation. 



During the first day after hatching the young bird lies in 

 an apparently exhausted condition, and receives no food. 

 Feeding begins on the second day. Late hatched young are 

 likely to be attacked by myriads of the little red ants which 

 infest the islands, and many are killed by them. 



Regurgitation is never practiced by this tern. The fish, here 

 usually the sand lance {Antmodytes americantts) , is caught in 

 the w'ater and is held by its middle while it is being carried to 

 the waiting young. The fish is deftly turned head toward the 

 chick and thrust into its mouth or even pushed down its throat. 

 The size of the fish did not necessarily bear any relation to the 

 size of the chick. It was no vuicommon thing to find a two- 

 day-old chick peacefully sleeping in the nest with an inch or 

 more of fish protruding from its mouth. It was forced to eat 

 its fish by intallments ! Several fishes forcibly removed from 

 protesting young had the head and upper part of the body di- 

 gested, while the tail region was still exposed to the air. 



The young usuall}' remained in the nest for the first three 

 days, but on the fourth day they left it but remained near. 

 Young hatched in nests placed among thick grass, as on Peni- 

 kese island, remain in the vicinity of the nest until they can 

 fly away from it. Here there are paths trodden in the grass, 

 radiating from the nest in several directions, but seldom far- 

 ther than a rod from the nest. The }-oung are fed by the pa- 

 rents or parent until seme time after the young are able to fly 

 about and accompany the old to the fishing grounds. I have 

 never seen a young bird fed while both birds were flying. In- 

 variably the young, at least, settles upon the water before re- 

 ceiving the fish, and shakes his plumage as from defilement 

 after receiving it. 



I have never seen either the young or old birds eat the re- 

 mains of the egg shells, nor have I ever found remnants of the 

 shells in the digestive tracts of the birds, but I have found 

 shells from which young had unmistakably escaped in the wa- 

 ter where they could not possibly have been blown l)v the wind. 



