22 Brewster on Terns of the New England Coast. 



wounded one, which had been taken into the boat, begin to arrange 

 its disordered feathers, and its feeble efforts to remove the blood- 

 stains from its fresh wounds were truly touching. 



When the wind blows hard the Terns spend much of their time 

 on the wing, and then display great restlessness and activity. They 

 seem to exult with tlie freshening breeze, like ships that have been 

 becalmed. At such times I have seen them play for many mrnutes 

 with a fish which one of their number had captured. The holder 

 would drop it, evidently by design, and the whole troop go sweep- 

 ing down in pursuit. The foremost was sure to seize it before it 

 reached the water, when it was taken up into the air and again 

 dropped. In this manner the prize would be in turn passed from 

 one to another. The game was apparently well understood by 

 all, as no attempt was made by any of them to devour the fish. 

 Swallow swill frequently play with a feather in a similar manner. 



The ease with which sea-birds find their way through the densest 

 fog is as astonishing as it is inexplicable. I have seen the Terns 

 passing between the fishing-grounds and Muskegat when it was im- 

 possible for human eyes to discern an object many yards away, and 

 yet their course was as direct and decided as in the clearest weather. 

 Indeed, at such times the fishermen are often guided by their flight. 



The Least Terns usually leave for the south in the latter part of 

 August, and the Short-tailed species commonly departs before the 

 close of the succeeding month. But the Wilson's, the Roseate, and 

 the Arctic Terns linger about Nantucket through the first half of 

 October. After that their numbers thin rapidly, and by the 25th 

 all are gone. The fishermen say that they follow the blue-fish in 

 their southward migration. However that may be, when the chill- 

 ing blasts of early November sweep across the sea, the Herring and 

 Black-backed Gulls have taken their places upon the sand-bars about 

 Nantucket ; the Eider Duck, the Scoter, the Whistler, and the 

 Sheldrake flock to fish among the Muskegat " tide-rips " ; and troops 

 of Snow-Buntings whirl over the bleak sand-hills. ^ 



