TERNS 171 



To one who associates all Terns with sandy beaches, it is a novel 

 experience, when driving over the prairies, to be surrounded by an 

 active flock of these birds, darting eagerly here and there in pursuit of 

 the insects flushed by one's team from the grass. When on their nest- 

 ing-grounds in the interior, Black Terns, indeed, appear to feed largely 

 on insects, but when migrating southward along our coasts in late 

 summer and autumn, in habits, and doubtless in food also, they more 

 nearly resemble the coast-breeding members of their family. 



It is difficult to recognize in the silent bird of this season the excit- 

 able, noisy Tern of June, which with its frequently repeated, sharp peek 

 protests loudly against trespass on its haunts whether or not it has 

 a nest there. 



H. K. Job found "scores and scores" of Black Terns in full breeding 

 plumage on an island at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay in late June, 

 but there appears to be no record of their breeding on the Atlantic 

 coast, where they are rarely seen before the fall migration. 



1908. CHAPMAN, F. M., Camps and Cruises, 324-329 (nesting). 



The WHITE-WINGED BLACK TERN (78. Hydrochelidon leucoptera), an Old 

 World species, has been taken once in America at Lake Koshkonong, Wise., 

 July 5, 1873 (Kumlien and Hollister, Bull., Wise. Nat. Soc., Ill, 14). 



79. Anoiis stolidus (Linn.}. NODDY. Ads. Top of head silvery 

 whitish, lores black; rest of plumage dark sooty brown; tail rounded, the 

 central tail-feathers longest. Im. Similar, but top of head like rest of 

 plumage, silvery whitish appears as a line from bill to above eye. L., 15' 00; 

 W., 10-25; T., 5'90; B., 1'70. 



Range. Tropical coasts. Breeds on the Tortugas, on the coast of La., 

 and in the Bahamas and W. Indies; winters s. to Brazil and Tristan da 

 Cunha Island. 



Nest, of sticks, grasses, etc., on a bush, or low tree, sometimes on the 

 ground or in crevices of rocks. Egg, 1, pale buffy white, sparingly marked 

 with rufous, 2'05 x 1'35. Date, Tortugas, Fla., May 4. 



In our Atlantic states the Noddy is known to nest only on Bird 

 Key in the Tortugas of Florida, where, in 1907, Watson found about 

 seven hundred pairs. 



According to this author, whose exceptionally important paper on 

 the habits of the Noddy and Sooty Terns should be read by every one 

 interested in bird psychology, it arrives late in April and remains until 

 September. The period of incubation is from thirty-two to thirty-five 

 days, and the young, according to Thompson, are dependent upon 

 their parents "until they are over three months old." 



The Noddy's exceptional tameness is apparently temperamental 

 rather than the result of ignorance of man, since the Sooty and Bridled 

 Terns, with which it often breeds, are far more shy. 



As the only Tern with a rounded tail, the Noddy, as might be ex- 

 pected, differs widely in flight from other members of its subfamily. 

 In the air it suggests a light-bodied Pigeon with long wings and tail. 

 It flies rapidly and does not hover over its nesting-ground, as do the 



