THE LEAST TERN. 



549 



species is found by itself, or to wait until late in the season, 

 and, after finding a nest, observe carefully the bird that 

 hovers over it, and shoot her. It is a well-known habit 

 of these species to hover over 

 their eggs after being driven 

 from them : but this is generally 

 confined to the close of the sea- 

 son of incubation, or very dark 

 or wet weather ; and the student, 

 to avail himself of it, must be 

 on the spot at the proper time. 

 The moment a person approach- 

 es one of their breeding places, 

 the whole colony leave their eggs 

 or young, and fly to meet the 

 intruder. I have been on an 

 island of not more than thirty 

 acres area, where thousands of 

 these birds of both species, and also the following, were 

 breeding ; and their cries, 'kree 'kree 'kree, were so loud that 

 my companions within twenty feet of me had to shout at 

 their loudest to make their words intelligible. 



The Arctic Tern, like all the others, leaves its 'eggs in 

 warm sunny days for several hours, depending on the sun 

 to assist in incubation. When one bird is shot, the others, 

 instead of flying off, only redouble their outcries, darting 

 down at the intruder within a few feet of his head ; and the 

 noise and confusion are so great, that one is almost bewil- 

 dered, and can hardly keep his wits about him sufficiently 

 to secure and properly identify his specimens. 



STEENA FRENATA. Gambel. 

 The Least Tern. 



Sterna minuta, Wilson. Am. Orn., VII. (1813) 80. Aud. Orn. Biog., IV. (1838) 

 175. /&., Birds Am., VII. (1844) 119. 



Sterna argentea, Nuttall. Man., II. (1834) 280. 



