THe WuHiTE-WINGED FLEET 
and Bonaparte’s Gulls, whose presence certainly 
enlivened the scene for me. 
Off the southern shores of Massachusetts there 
are various sandy islands on which these Terns and 
Otlhicet ss) breed: 
One sor these 
others, not yet 
spoken of, is the 
beautiful Rose- 
ates ier nj; very 
similar in appear- 
ance and habit, 
breeding ~ near 
and even among “TO A SUBSTANTIAL BED OF GRASS.” ANOTHER NEST 
the other spe- OF COMMON TERN, MAGDALEN ISLANDS 
cies, but distinguishable by its slender form and long 
tail, and a very white breast, that in the right light 
shows a beautiful pink blush of a most delicate hue. 
Any adjectives that I could use would be far inade- 
quate, to “describe, the erace and’ beauty of the 
Roseate Tern. 
In the same habitat, from Massachusetts south- 
ward, is found that dainty little sylph, the Least 
Tern. I first saw it along the broad, lonely ocean 
bedehes™or then back-side “of Cape Cod’ © There, 
as we walk along, several little Terns, much smaller 
than the other kinds, hover rather high over or 
beyond us, uttering their shrill staccato “‘yip, yip, 
yip.’’ After a good deal of tramping, keeping our 
eyes painfully upon the blinding glare of the dry, 
sandy expanse back from high-water mark, we may 
now and then detect two, or occasionally three, little 
eggs that look almost exactly like the mottled peb- 
143 
