1920.] Cape San Antonio, Buenos Ai/res. 75 



the carriage following me, and get into a favourable position, 

 when the flock rose and came towards me, fortunately- 

 inland. I secured three specimens (females all), and these 

 are now in the British ^luseura. The cry, though not loud, 

 was sharp and short, and, as Claude Grant says, unmistake- 

 able. When a wounded bird fell into the water, however, it 

 (and tliose hovering over it) uttered a louder and completely 

 difterent note. The food in the crop consisted of small 

 fish, which Agustin Bisso, a local fisherman of twenty years' 

 standing, who professed to know the species well, told me 

 it procured b}' diving from a considerable height. 



It has often been my custom to visit the sea-coast, and at 

 various periods I have stayed at Cape San Antonio, but the 

 above is the only occasion when the Great Tern has come 

 within my ken. 



413. Sterna trudeaiiii Aud. Tiudeau's Tern. 



I am surprised that Mr. Hudson has so little to say about 

 this beautiful and common Tern ; for, as Claude Grant 

 remarks, it is to be met with on every large lagoon and 

 open sheet of water inland, as well as the coast. It is true 

 the last-named writer is referring especially to the Aj(') dis- 

 trict, where the species is resident; but I myself know it 

 familiarly, on my journeys between Ajo and Buenos Avres, 

 on rivers, lagoons, and swamps. 



There is little of particular interest to extract from the 

 many perfunctory entries in my diary, extending over so 

 many years. Except when congregated in nesting-colonies, 

 Trudeau's Tern is generally seen singly or in pairs. The 

 larger lagunas, such as those of jNIilan and Palenque, are 

 naturally more frequented, but by nothing in the nature of 

 the large flocks which Claude Grant mentions as a daily 

 feature of the sea-coast. 



The note is a strident cry, most in evidence when the nest 

 is in danger. On these occasions the parent birds become 

 very bohl and threatening; indeed I was once struck on the 

 head three times in ra[)id succession by the same individual, 

 the last blow being distinctly unpleasant. That this Tern 



