154 STERNA HIRUNDO. 



the place, and, on the near approach of any person, 

 instantly make their appearance over head ; uttering 

 a hoarse jarring kind of cry, and flying about with 

 evident symptoms of great anxiety and consternation. 

 The young- are generally produced at intervals of a day 

 or so from each other, and are regularly and abundantly 

 fed for several weeks, before their wings are sufficiently 

 grown to enable them to fly. At first the parents 

 alight with the fish which they have brought in their 

 mouth or in their bill, and, tearing it in pieces, distribute 

 it in such portions as their young are able to swallow. 

 Afterwards they frequently feed them without alighting, 

 as they skim over the spot ; and, as the young become 

 nearly ready to fly, they drop the fish among them 

 where the strongest and most active has the best chance 

 to gobble it up. In the mean time, the young themselves 

 frequently search about the marshes, generally not far 

 apart, for insects of various kinds ; but so well acquainted 

 are they with the peculiar language of their parents 

 that warn them of the approach of an enemy, that, on 

 hearing their cries, they instantly squat, and remain 

 motionless until the danger be over. 



The flight of the great tern, and, indeed, of the whole 

 tribe, is not in the sweeping shooting manner of the 

 land swallows, notwithstanding their name; the motions 

 of their long wings are slower, and more in the manner 

 of the gull. They have, however, great powers of wing 

 and strength in the muscles of the neck, which enable 

 them to make such sudden and violent plunges, and 

 that from a considerable height too, headlong on their 

 prey, which they never seize but with their bills. In 

 the evening, I have remarked, as they retired from the 

 upper parts of the bays, rivers, and inlets, to the beach 

 for repose, about breeding time, that each generally 

 carried a small fish in his bill. 



As soon as the young are able to fly, they lead them 

 to the sandy shoals and ripples where fish are abundant ; 

 and, while they occasionally feed them, teach them by 

 their example to provide for themselves. They some- 

 times penetrate a great way inland, along the courses 



