LESSER TEKN. 245 



the day, when her warmth is altogether unnecessary, and per- 

 haps injurious, than that she should cover them only during the 

 damps of night, and in wet and stormy weather; and furnishes 

 another proof that the actions of birds are not the effect of mere 

 blind impulse, but of volition, regulated by reason, depending 

 on various incidental circumstances, to which their parental 

 cares are ever awake. I lately visited those parts of the beach 

 on Cape May, where this little bird breeds. The eggs, generally 

 four in number, where placed on the flat sands, safe beyond the 

 reach of the highest summer tide. They were of a yellowish 

 brown colour, blotched with rufous, and measured nearly an 

 inch and three-quarters in length. During my whole stay, these 

 birds flew in crowds around me, and often within a few yards 

 of my head, squeaking like so many young pigs, which their 

 voice strikingly resembles. A Humming-bird, that had acci- 

 dentally strayed to the place, appeared suddenly among this 

 outrageous group, several of whom darted angrily at him; but 

 he shot like an arrow from them, directing his flight straight 

 towards the ocean. I have no doubt but the distressing cries of 

 the Terns had drawn this little creature to the scene, having 

 frequently witnessed his anxious curiosity on similar occasions 

 in the woods. 



The Lesser Tern feeds on beetles, crickets, spiders, and other 

 insects, which it picks up from the marshes; as well as on small 

 fish, on which it plunges at sea. Like the former, it also makes 

 extensive incursions, inland, along the river courses, and has 

 frequently been shot several hundred miles from the sea. It 

 sometimes sits for hours together on the sands, as if resting af- 

 ter the fatigues of flight to which it is exposed. 



The Lesser Tern is extremely tame and unsuspicious, often 

 passing you in its flight, and within a few yards, as it traces the 

 windings and indentations of the shore in search of it favourite 

 prawns and skippers. Indeed at such times it appears either 

 altogether heedless of man, or its eagerness for food overcomes 

 its apprehensions for its own safety. We read in ancient au- 

 thors, that the fishermen used to float a cross of wood, in the 



