TWO DAYS WITH THE TERNS HI 



all Common Terns, but as I am unfamiliar with the 

 very similar Arctic Tern, it is possible that this 

 species may have been present. 



A Tern colony is in some respects a unit. The 

 alarm of one bird is shared by all, and before the 

 boat's keel grated on - 

 the sandy beach of the 

 largest Weepecket, the 

 snowy - breasted birds, 

 which in a group were 

 resting there, had taken 

 flight, and with their 

 singular call told all the 

 other Terns on the is- 

 land of my invasion. 

 At once the birds gath- 

 ered and, hanging in a 

 flock overhead, pro- 



53. Tern hovering above nest. 



tested most vigorously 



against my intrusion with their purring, vibrant 

 te-a-r-r-r. This cry never ceases so long as one 

 remains near their home; it rings in the ears for 

 days afterward, and one need only to recall it to 

 form a clear mental picture of a sky full of hov- 

 ering Terns. Occasionally this monotone was punc- 

 tuated by a loud, reedy cack as a Roseate Tern 

 dashed by, or as some half -distracted bird, whose 

 nest was doubtless near, screaming, dived close to 

 my head with a sudden, startling swish. It seemed 

 almost as though the bird would pierce me with its 

 sharply pointed bill ; and if it could have managed 

 to go through the rim of my hat without damage to 

 either of us, I should have been very glad to have 



