THE COMMON TERN, 



CCORDING to Colonel Goss, 

 these birds are abundant on 

 the Atlantic coast, decreasing 

 in numbers west, and are 

 'rare and exceptional on 

 the Pacific coast. They are migratory, 

 arriving from the middle of April to 

 the first of May, returning as early as 

 the first of September. Their habitat 

 is chiefly eastern temperate North 

 America and various parts of the 

 eastern hemisphere, breeding irregu- 

 larly throughout the range. The nests 

 have been found from the south coast 

 of Florida to the Arctic circle, on the 

 lakes in Wisconsin, and in large 

 numbers in several of the Magdalen 

 Isles, Gulf of St. Lawrence. Writers 

 disagree as to the composition of their 

 nests, some maintaining that they are 

 made of seaweeds and grasses, others 

 that they are without material of any 

 kind, the eggs lying upon the bare 

 ground in a slight depression in the 

 sand. The eggs are three or four, of 

 a paleblueish or greenish drab, thickly 

 and rather evenly spotted and blotched 

 with varying shades of light and dark 

 brown, with shell markings of pale 

 lilac, ovate in form. 



Mr. George H. Mackay has described 

 the Terns of Muskeget Island, Massa- 

 chusetts, and in a recent article in the 

 " Auk," he says : " Civilization is 

 continually encroaching upon the 

 places along the coast occupied by the 

 Terns until there remain at the 

 present time few localities adapted for 

 such breeding resorts. I visited and 

 remained on Muskegon Island July 3-5, 

 1897, and while there made, as has 

 heretofore been my custom, an 

 exhaustive examination of all the 

 breeding grounds of the Terns. I 

 found on visiting Gravelly Island a 

 considerable falling off from the status 

 of June, 1896, in both nests and eggs; 



the occupants were also different, 

 being now almost entirely Common 

 Terns, its former possessors having to 

 a large extent abandoned it." Mr. 

 Mackay has been endeavoring to 

 protect the Terns from the destructive 

 encroachments of hunters and so-called 

 "eggers." He says that this season 

 the Terns arrived at Muskeget in large 

 flocks, thousands dropping from the 

 sky when they were first observed. The 

 number of young birds was unusually 

 large, larger than has been before 

 noticed, which result is probably due 

 to the protection which has been 

 extended to them throughout the 

 breeding season, a condition they have 

 not before enjoyed. 



This Tern enjoys a large assortment 

 of names : Sea Swallow, Wilson's 

 Tern, Red Shank, Mackerel Gull, and 

 Summer Gull, are a few of them by 

 which it is known in various localities. 

 In several places on the Atlantic coast 

 it breeds in company with other 

 species, such as Forster's, Arctic, and 

 Roseate Terns, the Laughing Gull, 

 and others. Here they breed by 

 thousands, fairly filling the air when 

 disturbed. They place their nests 

 all over the land above high water 

 line, on the beach, on the sides of 

 the bluffs, and even in the garden 

 cultivated by the lighthouse keeper. 

 At Gull Island fresh eggs can be 

 obtained from the loth of June to the 

 middle of July, as egging parties keep 

 them cleaned off about as fast as they 

 are laid. Public opinion is rapidly 

 coming to the rescue of these 

 beautiful birds, and we may reasonably 

 hope that they may not be wholly 

 exterminated. In connection with 

 this article, we call the reader's 

 attention to Vol. I, pages 103-104, 

 where the Black Tern is depicted and 

 described. 



47 



