268 SOOTY TERN. 



that I can say is, that before they take their departure, the young are 

 greyish-brown above, dull white beneath, and have the tail very short. 



At Bird Key we found a party of Spanish Eggers from Havannah. 

 They had already laid in a cargo of about eight tons of the eggs of this 

 Tern and the Noddy. On asking them how many they supposed they 

 had, they answered that they never counted them, even while selling them, 

 but disposed of them at seventy-five cents per gallon ; and that one turn 

 to market sometimes produced upwards of two hundred dollars, while it 

 took only a- week to sail backwards and forwards and collect their cargo. 

 Some eggers, who now and then come from Key West, sell their eggs at 

 twelve and a half cents the dozen ; but wherever these eggs are carried, 

 they must soon be disposed of and eaten, for they become putrid in a few 

 weeks. 



On referring to my journals once more, I find the following remarks 

 with reference to the Sooty Tern. It would appear that at some period 

 not very remote, the Noddy, Sterna stolida, must have had it in con- 

 templation to appropriate to itself its neighbour's domains; as on ex- 

 amination of this island, several thousand nests of that bird were found 

 built on the tops of the bushes, although no birds of the species were 

 about them. It is therefore probable that if such an attempt was made 

 by them, they were defeated and forced to confine themselves to the neigh- 

 bouring island, where they breed by themselves, although it is only a few 

 miles distant. That such interferences and conflicts now and then occur 

 among different species of birds, has often been observed by other per- 

 sons, and in several instances by myself, particularly among Herons. In 

 these cases, right or wrong, the stronger party never fails to dislodge the 

 weaker, and keep possession of the disputed ground. 



Sterna fuliginosa, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 804 — Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of 



Birds of the United States, p. 355. 

 Sooty Tern, Sterna fuliginosa, Lath. Sjnops. vol. vi. p. 352 — Wils. Amer. 



Ornith. vol. viii. p. 145. pi. 72. fig. ^ Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 284. 



Adult Male. Plate CCXXXV. 



Bill longer than the head, strong, slender, nearly straight, compres- 

 sed, very acute. Upper mandible with the dorsal Une slightly arched, 

 the ridge broad and convex at the base, narrowed towards the end, the 



