GULLS AND TERNS. 273 



regions of the far north. It has no fancy, however, 

 for extremely cold weather, and winters in a mild 

 climate. We see them first in mid-spring, and they 

 nest along our Atlantic seaboard. 

 Wilson's account is as follows : 



" About the middle or twentieth of May this bird commences lay- 

 ing. The preparation of a nest, which costs most other birds so 

 much time and ingenuity, is here altogether dispensed with. The 

 eggs, generally three in number, are placed on the surface of the dry 

 drift grass, on the beach or salt marsh, and covered by the female 

 only during the night, or in wet, raw, or stormy weather. At all 

 other times the hatching of them is left to the heat of the sun. 

 These eggs measure an inch and three-quarters in length by about 

 an inch and two-tenths in width, and are of a yellowish dun color, 

 sprinkled with dark brown and pale Indian ink. Notwithstanding 

 they seem thus negligently abandoned during the day, it is very 

 different in reality. One or both of the parents are generally 

 fishing within view of the place, and on the near approach of any 

 person, instantly make their appearance overhead, uttering a hoarse 

 jarring kind of cry, and flying about with evident symptoms of great 

 anxiety and consternation. The young are generally produced at 

 intervals of a day or so from each other, and are regularly and 

 abundantly fed for several weeks, before their wings are sufficiently 

 grown to enable them to fly. At first the parents alight with the fish, 

 which they have brought in their mouth, or in their bill, and tearing 

 it in pieces, distribute it in such portions as their young are able to 

 swallow. Afterwards they frequently feed them without alighting, 

 as they skim over the spot ; and as the young become nearly ready to 

 fly, they drop the fish among them, where the strongest and most 

 active has the best chance to gobble it up. In the mean time, the 

 young themselves frequently search about the marshes, generally not 

 far apart, for insects of various kinds ; but so well acquainted are 

 they with the peculiar language of their parents, that warn them of 

 the approach of an enemy, that on hearing their cries they instantly 

 squat, and remain motionless until the danger be over." 



Of the other terns little need be said. Their 

 habits do not vary sufficiently from what has already 



