GAME, AQUATIC, AND RAPACIOUS BIBDS. 



23 



forming 24.1 per cent, were next in rank. They were taken in 

 California in September and December, and in Georgia and Florida 

 in November, December, and January. Fresh- water minnows 

 (Cyprinidae) composed 20.5 per cent of the food. Following these 

 in importance were pompanos (Trachinotus carolinus), 5.9 per cent; 

 round herrings 

 ( Etrumeus sadina) , 

 5. 8 per cent; mum- 

 michogs ( Fundu- 

 lus zebrinus) and 

 fresh-water stick- 

 lebacks (Eucalia 

 inconstans) ,2.6 per 

 cent each. Uni- 

 dentified fish made 

 up 7.3 per cent of 

 the food. 



Thus only 5. 9 per 

 cent of the food of 

 Forster's tern, as 

 at present known, 

 consists of food 

 fishes ; 92 per cent 

 consists of fishes of 

 no direct value to 

 man, among which 

 are sticklebacks, 

 which feed upon 

 the spawn of other 

 fishes. 



Common tern 

 (Sterna Jiirundo) . 

 One hundred and 

 sixteen stomachs 

 of the common tern 

 (fig. 9) have been 

 examined. One 

 per cent of their 

 food consists of 

 mollusks, crusta- 

 cea, and the worms (Nereis) which feed upon oysters. Two per cent 

 is composed of moths and 1.5 per cent of other insects, including 

 grasshoppers, crickets, ants, dragon flies, caddis flies, beetles, and 

 bugs. The remaining 95.5 per cent consists of fishes. The largest 



497 



FIG. 9. Common tern. 



