368 ARCTIC TERN. 



The Arctic Tern is found with us on the eastern coasts of the United 

 States only, where it appears, from the shores of New Jersey northwards, 

 in autumn, and whence it departs in early spring. No sooner have the 

 winter tempests subsided, than it is observed gliding along the coast, to- 

 gether with many other birds. In the beginning of March, you see it 

 following the sinuosities of the shores, some passing directly from the 

 Sable Islands off the Bay of Fundy and Newfoundland into Baffin's Bay; 

 others, younger, and unwilling to encounter the perils of a more extended 

 flight, passing up the Gulf of St Lawrence, either through the Straits of 

 Cansso, or the broader channel between Cape Breton and Newfound- 

 land, and betaking themselves to the Magdaleine Islands and the coasts of 

 Labrador. 



While at American Harbour in June 1833, my son and some of his 

 companions met with a low rocky island, on which hundreds of these 

 Terns had deposited their eggs. No other species was seen there ; the 

 birds were mostly sitting, and, on the landing of the party, they all rose 

 as if in the greatest consternation, hovered over their heads, and left their 

 eggs to the mercy of the intruders who carried off a basketful of them, 

 with a few of the birds themselves. 



On the 18th of the same month, the Arctic Terns were found breed- 

 ing on another island in considerable numbers ; many dozens of their eggs 

 were gathered, and delicious food indeed they proved to be. The full 

 number of their eggs is three, but as it was early in the season many had 

 only two. Their average dimensions were an inch and a quarter in 

 length, and five-eighths in their greatest breadth ; they were oval, but 

 rather sharp at the smaller ends ; their ground-colour a light-olive, irre- 

 gularly covered with patches of dark umber, larger towards the round 

 end. They were deposited on the rocks wherever there was any grass, 

 but no nest had been formed for their reception. They differed extreme- 

 ly in their colour, indeed quite as much as those of the Sandwich Tern. 

 As we approached the little island, they all rose in the air, and flew high 

 over our heads, screaming loudly, which they continued to do until we 

 left the place. Several were shot, and as each fell the rest immediately 

 plunged through the air after it. Whenever one was wounded so slight- 

 ly as to be able to make off, it was lost to us, and the rest followed it. 

 Only a very few of those which we saw and shot had the bill entirely red, 

 and those which had were evidently older birds. Some exhibited a con- 

 siderable portion of the point tinged with brownish- black, yet all of them 



