THE FORSTER TERN. 749 
antly. It may yet be found to nest in or near the northern tier of States.” It 
has since actually been found breeding south to Texas and Lower California, 
and east to Virginia,—in short, “in suitable localities thruout the United 
States.” 
Forster's Tern is pre-eminently a marsh-haunting species, and its range in 
Washington appears to be confined to a few of the interior lakes. We have 
observed them in small companies only on 
Moses Lake and at Brook Lake in Douglas 
County. In this last-named haunt their 
eraceful gyrations impart the crowning 
touch of interest to a fertile and well- 
remembered swamp. ‘They arrive early in 
May, but take only a languid interest in 
local affairs until the first or second week in 
June, when the Western Grebes are, or 
should be, thru with their very convenient, 
and to the Terns quite indispensable, nest- 
ing platforms. Altho the Grebe has a cruel 
beak, she seems unable, or unwilling, to use 
it in self-defense, and will not contest 
possession with the saucy Tern, even tho 
her own eggs be half incubated. The nest 
shown in the accompanying illustration 
happened to be a fresh one, upon which the 
Tern had made very hasty requisition; but 
I have seen others in which the eggs of the 
rightful owner were nearly buried under a 
little turret of dried reeds, upon which the 
Tern had been allowed to place her full 
complement of eggs. 
Tho she herself be an interloper, the 
brooding bird resents intrusion, diving 
Anemia theshumean) visitor and eiyines ere Dousles Countyn author. 
vent to the only cry which this bird utters, FORSTER’S TERN 
a harsh, low a-a-a (like the a in bad), 
absurdly ineffective as a warning. All the neighbors join in the defense, and 
the intruder is berated in many inflections of very platt Deutsch. Every other 
point in the bird’s make-up, the mild eye, the jaunty cap, the snowy under- 
plumage, the graceful lines of contour, the flowing streamers of the tail, so 
belie this vulgar vehemence that the observer is moved to jeer: “Aw, now, 
you ar’n’t so very mad!” 
Out of nesting hours the Forster Terns appear to divide their time about 
