THE BLACK TERN 31 



able to look after themselves in the matter of flying 

 and catching food. These birds are abundant over the 

 northern part of the United States and the southern part 

 of Canada from Northern Ohio to the Pacific coast. I 

 have seen them in the breeding season in Michigan and 

 northern Indiana, and they occasionally are found as far 

 south as the northern part of Missouri, tho certainly this 

 is rare. With the return of fall they fly to the seashore 

 and unite with the great flocks of gulls and other terna 

 that congregate there for the winter, becoming active fish- 

 ers. I do not think they do much fishing during the 

 summertime, but in the winter they are often active in 

 picking minnows out of the water even at a considerable 

 distance from the shore. In Florida and the other gulf 

 districts, however, they undoubtedly catch a great many 

 insects even in winter. 



Terns in general and the black tern in particular are 

 birds evidently intended by the great Creator for our 

 pleasure. They do no harm in any way, living as they 

 do along creeks, ponds, and lakes. Doubtless the in- 

 sects on which they largely feed are not the ones that 

 would do our crops much injury, so we would not class 

 them among our most beneficial birds; but it seems to 

 me that it is nothing short of barbarous to sacrifice the 

 lives of millions of terns, as has been done in the past, 

 merely to ornament women's hats. Fortunately the law 

 now gives them protection, and it is to be hoped that be- 

 fore many years we shall again see them in the great num- 

 bers in which they existed thirty or forty years ago about 

 the streams and ponds of the Dakotas, Minnesota, Colo- 

 rado, and adjoining districts. 



