368 LARID^ : JAEGERS, GULLS, TERNS, ETC. 



dropped. In this manner the prize would be in turn 

 passed from one to another. The game was apparently- 

 well understood by all, as no attempt was made by any 

 of them to devour the fish. Swallows will frequently 

 play with a feather in a similar manner. 



"The ease with which sea-birds find their way 

 through the densest fog is as astonishing as it is inex- 

 plicable. I have seen the Terns passing between the 

 fishing-grounds and Muskegat when it was impossible 

 for human eyes to discern an object many yards away, 

 and yet their course was as direct and decided as in the 

 clearest weather. Indeed, at such times the fishermen 

 are often guided by their flight. 



" The Least Terns usually leave for the south in the 

 latter part of August, and the Short-tailed species com- 

 monly departs before the close of the succeeding month. 

 But the Wilson's, the Roseate, and the Arctic Terns 

 linger about Nantucket through the first half of Octo- 

 ber. After that their numbers thin rapidly, and by the 

 25th all are gone. The fishermen say that they follow 

 the blue-fish in their southward migration. However 

 that may be, when the chilling blasts of early November 

 sweep across the sea, the Herring and Black-backed 

 Gulls have taken their places upon the sand-bars about 

 Nantucket ; the Eider Duck, the Scoter, the Whistler, 

 and the Sheldrake flock to fish among the Muskegat 

 ' tide-rips ' ; and troops of Snow-Buntings whirl over 

 the bleak sand-hills." 



