278 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 
Scissors-bills or Skimmers (Ayzchops), the Gulls (Zaride), the Skuas 
(Stercoraria), the Petrels (Proce/laria), Albatross (Diomedea). 
THE TERNS (Sterna), 
There are six species of Sterna, properly so called, described by 
British naturalists; and six others, according to McGillivray, nearly 
resembling them in form, colour, and habit. The true Terns have the 
bill straight, slender, compressed, and tapering, about the length of 
the head, with the edge sharp, and the tip elongated and pointed; 
the upper mandible armate ; legs short, slender ; anterior toes small ; 
membrane emarginate ; wings long and pointed ; tail forked. ‘These 
birds are remarkable for their buoyant, graceful, easy flight, and the 
soft loose texture of their plumage. ‘Their prevailing colours are a 
pale bluish grey or black, and white. 
The [ern or Sea Swallow, on account of its long pointed wings 
and forked tail, like the Swallow properly so called, appear to possess 
a perfect immunity from feeling fatigue. They may be seen at one 
moment soaring in the air at a great height, at another darting down 
upon their prey, which their piercing sight has enabled them to 
descry. Often, too, they may be noticed skimming over the surface 
of the waves with astonishing rapidity, and seizing in their passage 
any fish which is on the surface. As they rarely swim, their flight 
seems incessant. When rest is taken it is upon some isolated rock 
in the ocean. They sometimes congregate in flocks, when they 
manifest so much attachment for individuals of their own species, 
that, if one of them be wounded by the sportsman’s gun, the others 
surround it, full of grief and sympathy, nor will they leave it until all 
hope of helping their comrade is at an end. 
These birds in their flight give utterance to shrill and piercing 
calls, which, when produced by numbers together, cause a most 
grating, unpleasant effect. But the time, above all others, when their 
noise is most discordant and shrill is the breeding season. “On 
going up to one of their breeding-places,” says McGillivray, ‘ which 
may always be discovered from a distance, as some of the birds will 
be seen hovering over it, one is sure to be met by several of them, 
which hasten to remonstrate against the intruder’s approach by harsh 
cries and threatened blows. As you draw nearer, more of them 
leave their nests; and at length they are all on the wing, wheeling 
and bounding—now high and now low—at times coming quite close, 
and increasing their cries, which resemble the syllables ‘ cree-cree- 
,» 
cree-ae. 
