SWIMMING BIRDS. Terns 



When flying over the water in fishing, they hold tlieir 

 beaks at right angles with their bodies, instead of poking 

 them forward like the Herons, which attitude makes them, 

 Dr. Cones says, "curiously like colossal mosquitoes." 



Terns were very plentiful twenty years ago, but the per- 

 secution for millinery purposes has thinned the ranks piti- 

 fully ; and the survivors keep more and more aloof, until it 

 seems as if an absolute change in the bird's range will be 

 the result. 



Muskeget Island, northeast of Nantucket, is a breeding- 

 place for these Terns, as well as many other Water-birds, 

 and there is a guardian on the island to see that they are 

 protected, especially in the breeding-season. A friend who 

 visited Muskeget last July, told me that everywhere on the 

 sand there were eggs in groups of two and three, and young 

 Terns in various stages of growth, who were so tame that 

 they allowed him to handle them as readily as kittens. The 

 heat of the sun keeps the eggs warm in the daytime, and as 

 soon as they are hatched the young birds go down to the 

 water's edge and feed upon a glutinous substance that is 

 washed up. The adults go in enormous flocks to Nantucket 

 every morning and spend the day in the harbour and little 

 bays, feeding upon the wastage of the island, returning to 

 Muskeget at dusk. 



Roseate Tern : Sterna dougalli. 



Length : 14-15 inches. 



Male and Female : Bill black, yellow at tip, and reddish at base. 



Black cap, and long head feathers ; back of neck white, also 



entire under parts white with a rosy wash. Wings varied, gray, 



tail pearl-gray. Feet and legs yellowish red. 

 Season : A rare summer resident. 

 Breeds : Casually along the Atlantic coast to Maine. 

 Hange : Temperate and tropical regions, north on the Atlantic coast of 



North America to Massachusetts, and casually to Maine. 



A rarely beautiful species, not often seen north of New 

 England, but breeding with the Common Tern at Muskeget, 

 and hardly daring to show its rosy breast to the vandals 

 T 273 



