Song Birds and Water Fowl 
my nearest approach to it was in a plate of 
these beautiful terns’ eggs, offered me a few 
moments after my arrival. They are quite 
small, the yolk of a bright salmon color, and 
richer than hens’ eggs. Some think they havea 
little gamey flavor, but I found only the merest 
suggestion of it. The eggs of wild fowl have 
always seemed a hallowed thing, and the idea 
of actually eating them at first struck me as 
being almost sacrilegious. They are highly 
prized by many, and, previous to the ‘‘ close 
season ’’ each year, are collected in great num- 
bers from Penekese and sold in the streets of 
New Bedford. 
With this literal foretaste of the object of my 
search, I then left my host to find the birds 
themselves. Crossing the island to the south 
or ocean side, and approaching the shore, im- 
mense swarms of terns were to be seen rising 
from the water’s edge; which, in their circling 
and continuous flight, showed themselves to 
be a sort of silvery prototype of our familiar 
dusky land swallows, although considerably 
larger, being about fifteen inches in length, and 
coursing through the air with the same bound- 
less and exultant ease. With a pearly blue 
mantle upon the back and wings, pure white 
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