BULLETIN No. 36 69 



General Notes. 



Notes on Terns. Sterna hirundo, S. dougalli and 

 S. ANTILLARUM. The Penikese Island colony of Terns (5. Mr- 

 undo S. dougalli) was reported as larger this past summer than 

 last year, though not as large as in the summer of '99. The 

 Woepecket Island colonies have increased in size the past two 

 summers. On two of the three islands there were quite a num- 

 ber of Roseates (5. dougalli), but the greater number were 

 Common Terns (S.hirun fo). A few Least Terns {S.antillarum'), 

 were found bretding on Martha's Vineyard Island, near West 

 Chop, by Dr. H. Smith, late in July. 



I kepttwo young Roseates and one Common Tern this past 

 summer for about a month in connection with some work on 

 feather pigmentation. In my experience, the Roseates are less 

 easily tamed and they learn to take food less readily. In the 

 course of two weeks, however, the young Roseates became 

 quite accustomed to me and would set up a violent screaming 

 for food at the sound of my steps outside of the room in which 

 they were kept. They usually refused to take food from other 

 persons unless very hungry. My young Common Terns have 

 been uniformly less noisy. 



Especially interesting to me have been the wing exercises 

 carried on with evident delight for several days before the birds 

 were able to lift themselves above the ground. On being re- 

 moved from a cage to an open space, they would grow greatly 

 excited in the pleasure of these wing trials. 



So far as my observations go, the young birds do not have 

 to catch fish themselves until a considerable time after they are 

 able to fly. In early August one sees many young birds about 

 Woods Hole accompanied and fed by their parents. The fish- 

 catching habit seems to be acquired largely by imitation and to 

 be only partially instinctive. The young Roseates were left for 

 7 hours one day without food except for some live young mum- 

 michogs (Fundulus) swimming in a dish of water in the same 

 room with the birds. The Terns became very hungry, but 



