LARID^ — THE GULLS AND TERNS — STERNA. 



311 



Jamaica it is not common, and Mr. Gosse only met with a single chance individual. 

 It is ri'sident in Central America. 



Mr. Salvin obtained a skin of this Tern at Cohan, in Guatemala, but was not able 

 to ascertain just where it had been procured. He afterward found this species 

 lirecding on the coast of Honduras in the latter part of A\m\. As he approached 

 (lassey Key, the Terns rose from the land in a cloud. On this key about a hundred 

 pairs had assembled to lay, and numbers of nests were already occupied, each con- 

 taining one, two, or three eggs — nearly all of the nests being mere depressions in 

 tlie sand. 



Leotaud mentions this species as being one of the resident birds of Trinidad, 

 living in company with the other Terns, and having, in all essential respects, the 

 same habits. 



Mr. Dresser mentions it as being common on the coast of Southern Texas during 

 the summer. He often met with it about the lagoon near Matamoras, and also found 

 it abundant about the mouth of the Rio Grande. In June, 1804, it was breeding in 

 West Galveston Bay, on the small shell-bars or sand islets, but not on the mainland. 

 Till! eggs were fresh, and he was told that it breeds hite in the season. Mr. Ridgway 

 found it very abundant on Cobb's Island, Va., where it was nesting on the dry sand 

 in isolated colonies. Its usual note was a sharp squeak, much like the cry of a very 

 young pig following its mother. 



According to Giraud, this is a common species on Long Island, and thence south- 

 ward, having a very extended range ; returning to that locality early in May, and 

 departing southward early in the autumn. It feeds on various kinds of insects, as 

 well as on small fish. About the 25th of May or the 1st of June the female begins 

 to lay. The eggs are dropped on the dry and warm sand, the temperature of which 

 (lining the day is fully sufficient for the purposes of incubation ; as the sand is some- 

 times so hot that one can scarcely bear the hand in it for a few moments without 

 inconvenience. The wonder would therefore be greater shoidd "rhe bird sit on her 

 eggs during the day, when her warmth is altogether unnecessary, and perhaps injur- 

 ious ; it seems perfectly reasonable that she should cover them only at night, or in 

 wot and stormy weather. Giraud states that the eggs are generally four in number, 

 and placed on the flat sand, safe beyond the reach of the highest summer tide. They 

 ar(! described by him as being of a yellowish-brown color, blotched with rufous. Giraud 

 and Wilson give the length of the egg as 1.75 inches ; but this is a mistake. 



In 1842 I visited a small sandy island called Tuckernuk, lying between Muskegat 

 and Nantucket Point, which was then supposed to be the most northerly locality 

 in which this species bred in any considerable numbers. This colony, which was 

 thtMi one of considerable size, is now nearly or quite exterminated ; and at the time 

 of my visit it was very evident that constant spoliation would ere long result in 

 its extermination. In the summer of 1842, and again in the following year, as we 

 approached the shore the birds all rose and hovered over the land, resembling a small 

 white cloud. They were quite as fearless as the Arctic Terns ; and a stronger com- 

 parison could hardly be nsed. For when either of these birds has young or incubated 

 eggs, it seems to fear nothing. The Terns dashed about in rapid flight, now this way, 

 now that, plunging at our heads, but always turning to one side just before touching 

 lis. A few of the most interested made these demonstrations, while their companions 

 hovered about us like a moving cloud of witnesses, all of them joining in the clamor 

 of indignant and plaintive cries. The eggs were in slight depressions made in the 

 sand, with no lining whatever. 



In the Smithsonian Collection there are eggs of this species from Ipswich, Mass. ; 



