BIRD ROOKERIES OP TORTUGAS BARTSCH. 489 



home life; see the pride with which the male comes with the food 

 for his mate, for he provides for her during the incubation period, 

 and note how coyly she accepts it, and listen to the music of their 

 conversation, for the male apparently begins to tell about how he 

 caught it the moment he heads for shore. At times you would be 

 greatly amused to see how he teasingly refuses to relinquish a choice 

 shiner, turning it before her, now on this side, then on the other, 

 ever deftly squirming to keep it from her; such, and many other 

 little tendernesses occasionally observed in creatures of a higher 

 order, are the order of the day. An hour of watching these swallows 

 of the sea gives one a feeling of kinship and materially expands one's 

 sympathies for the larger universe. 



THE ROSEATE TERN (Sterna dougalli). 



Last year (1917) a colony of about 100 pairs of the roseate tern 

 established itself on the rough coral and shell-strewn northeastern 

 end of Long Key. During the time of my visit, the last 12 days 

 of July, no eggs were found, but young in various stages of develop- 

 ment from a few days old to individuals just finding their wings. 

 It was interesting to quietly drift up the shallow bay inclosed in the 

 curve of Long and Bush Key and on landing at the northern end, 

 make a rush across the narrow hurricane rampart that connects Long 

 with Bush Key. The outer shoal of this rough portion of the key 

 formed the habitat frequented by the young birds. 



The result of such a sudden visit would be to put all of the adult 

 birds in the air screaming a concerted protest to the intruder (pi. 27), 

 while the young birds would execute a quick scramble for shelter 

 or the water. In a few minutes a raft of small birds would be swim- 

 ming in a compact body at some distance offshore (pi. 32), and of 

 those remaining on land not one would be in sight. A careful hunt, 

 however, would soon reveal them tucked away in the crevices between 

 the coral boulders, sometimes several young birds under a single 

 coral head. When possible they will crawl completely from sight, 

 but if no cover is present, they will content themselves by merely 

 hiding their heads, as shown by our pictures (pi. 29). At times, too, 

 they merely flatten themselves against the rough ground (pi. 30, 

 fig. A). No matter what their position may be, the young birds are 

 always completely in harmony with their surroundings; the colora- 

 tion of the young birds is in perfect accord with the general color 

 scheme. We have given a number of plates showing the different 

 developmental stages of the bird and its plumage. 



THE BLACK TERN (CMidonias nigra surinamensis) . 



During last summer's visit we found this aberrantly colored mem- 

 ber of the sea swallows present on Long Key during my entire stay at 



