SOOTY TERN. 545 



more than half of them took to wing on our arrival. We 

 ran across the naked beach, and as we entered the thic]* 

 cover before us, and spread in different directions, we 

 might at every step have caught a sitting bird, or one 

 scrambling through the bushes to escape from us. Some 

 of the sailors, who had more than once been there before, 

 had provided themselves with sticks, with which they 

 knocked down the birds as they flew thick around and 

 over them. In less than half an hour, more than a 

 hundred Terns lay dead in a heap, and a number of 

 baskets were filled to the brim with eggs. We then 

 returned on board, and declined disturbing the rest any 

 more that night. We found the eggs delicious, in what- 

 ever way cooked, and during our stay at Tortugas, we 

 never passed a day without providing ourselves with a 

 good quantity of them. This first descent upon these 

 poor birds was made on the 9th of May, 1832." 



This Tern, when seeking its food, not unfrequently 

 hovers close to the water to pick up floating objects. " I 

 have observed it," says Mr. Audubon, " follow in the 

 wake of a porpoise, while the latter was pursuing its 

 prey, and at the instant when by a sudden dash it 

 frightens and drives toward the surface the fry around 

 it, the Tern as suddenly passes over the spot, and picks 

 up a small fish or two." 



" The Sooty Tern never forms a nest of any sort, but 

 deposits its three eggs in a slight cavity which it scoops 

 in the sand under the trees. Several individuals, which 

 had not commenced laying their eggs, I saw scratch the 

 sand with their feet, in the manner of the common fowl, 

 while searching for food. In the course of this operation 

 they frequently seated themselves in the shallow basin to 

 try how it fitted their form, or find out what was still 

 wanted to ensure their comfort. The eggs measure two 



VOL. III. N N 



