NORTH' AMERICAN BIRDlS. 43 



of the Island of St. Helena, and on Ascension Island, which is farther north and west; 

 in favorite sf 3ts at the latter place it is said to breed in countless numbers. The 

 eggs are regarded by some as a great delicacy, and are so numerous that they are 

 an important article of commerce. This species is said to be semi-nocturnal in its 

 habits, being able to fly by night as well as by day, going out to sea to feed long be- 

 fore daylight. It is "the egg bird" of Jamaica. Breeds on the islands in the Gulf 

 of Mexico, about the middle of May, and on the small islands south of Key West, 

 Fla., early in May. In some places the eggs are deposited on the bare ground or on 

 rocks; in others a nest is made in the long grass under bushes. This species lays but 

 a single egg. Audubon states that the Sooty Tern always lays three eggs, but more 

 recent observers say that in thousands of nests examined there were only two 

 instances of two eggs being found together. It is a handsome egg, pinkish or creamy 

 white, spotted and blotched with a rich reddish-brown, tinged with lilac. Sizes vary 

 from 1.95 to 2.12 long by 1.45 to 1,50 broad. 



76. BRIDLED TERN. Sterna ancetlietus Scop. Geog. D'st. Tropical 

 regions; casual in Florida. 



The Bridled Tern is especially abundant in the West India Islands, where it is 

 the "egg-bird" par excellence, and is often confounded with the Sooty Tern. The 

 bird occurs casually in Florida, but does not breed there. It is noted for its social 

 peculiarities, always nesting in company with the Roseate, Sooty and Noddy Terns. 

 The single egg of this species is deposited on ledges of rocks or in the cavities among 

 loose boulders along the sea shore. The egg has a ground-color of a rich cream, 

 with large blotches and smaller spots of reddish-brown, with confluent shell-mark- 

 ings of dull lilac. The blotches are usually confluent at the large end, while others 

 are scattered over the entire surface. Five selected specimens in Mr. Crandall's col- 

 lection offer the following measurements: 1.83x1.30, 1.84x1.26, 1.85x1.27, 1.86x1.29, 

 1.87x1.31, the average being about 1.84x1.31. 



77. BLACK TERN. Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis (Gmel.) Geog. Dtst. 

 Temperate and tropical America, from Alaska and fur countries into South America; 

 oreeding from the Middle United States northward. 



The Black or Short-tailed Tern is distributed throughout North America at 

 large, both along the coast and in the interior; breeding anywhere in colonies, in 

 marshes and reedy sloughs, where it deposits the eggs on dead reeds, whiofa are 

 often floating. It is known to 

 "breed abundantly in various 

 marshes of Michigan, Wiscon- 

 sin, Minnesota, Dakota, Ore- 

 gon and California. It has ex- 

 ceedingly long wings, and in 

 Its pursuit of insects in the air 

 Its flight and evolutions re- 

 semble those of a swallow. 

 Mr. Frank W. Langdon ob- 

 served this species to be a 

 very common summer resi- 

 dent of a marsh in Northern " BLACK TERN ' 



