SPECIES 2. STERNA MINUTE. 



LESSER TERN. 



[Plate LX. Fig. 2.] 



Jlrct. Zool. tJVo. 449. La petite Hirondelle de mer, BUFF, vin, 

 S37. PL Enl. 996. BEWICK, n, 183. PEALK'S Mseum, JVo. 

 3505.* 



THIS beautiful little species looks like the preceding in mi- 

 niature, but surpasses it far in the rich glossy satin-like white 

 plumage with which its throat, breast, and whole lower parts, 

 are covered. Like the former, it is also a bird of passage, but 

 is said not to extend its migrations to so high a northern lati- 

 tude, being more delicate, and susceptible of cold. It arrives 

 on the coast somewhat later than the other, but in equal and per- 

 haps greater numbers; coasts along the shores, and also over the 

 pools, in the salt marshes, in search of prawns, of which it is 

 particularly fond; hovers, suspended in the air, for a few mo- 

 ments above its prey, exactly in the manner of some of our 

 small Hawks, and dashes headlong down into the water after 

 it, generally seizing it with its bill; mounts instantly again to 

 the same height, and moves slowly along as before, eagerly ex- 

 amining the surface below. About the twenty-fifth of May, or 

 beginning of June, the female begins to lay. The eggs are dropt 

 on the dry and warm sand, the heat of which, during the day, 

 is fully sufficient for the purpose of incubation. This heat is 

 sometimes so great, that one can scarcely bear the hand in it 

 for a few moments, without inconvenience. The wonder would 

 therefore be the greater should the bird sit on her eggs during 



* Sterna minuta, GMEL. Syat. i, p. 608. Ind. Orn. p. 809, No. 19. Sterna 

 mttopoleucos, ib No. 22. Ruiss. vi, p. 206, pi. 19. fig. 2. TEMM. Man d'Orn. 

 p. 752. 



