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THE BLACK TERN. 



Sterna nigra, Linn. 



PLATE CCLXXX. Adult Male and Young. 



The Black Tern begins to arrive from the Mexican territories over 

 the waters of the Western Country, about the middle of April, and con- 

 tinues to pass for about a month. At that season I have observed it as- 

 cending the Mississippi from New Orleans to the head waters of the Ohio, 

 then cutting over the land, and arriving at the Great Lakes, beyond 

 Avhich many proceed still farther northward. But I have rarely met 

 with them along our Atlantic shores until autumn, when the young, which, 

 like those of all other Terns with which I am acquainted, mostly keep by 

 themselves until spring, make their appearance there. Nor did I see a 

 single individual^^when on my way to Labrador, or during my visit to 

 that country. They re-appear in the Western Country, in the course of 

 their southern migration, in the months of September and October ; but 

 many pairs breed in the intermediate range. 



When residing at Louisville in Kentucky, I found the Black Tern 

 abundant in the neighbourhood, breeding on the margins of ponds at a 

 short distance from the Ohio. I also found them with nests and eggs on 

 a pond near Vincennes, in the State of Indiana. Now, however, they 

 have abandoned those places, and merely pass over the country on their 

 way to and from the northern regions. 



Often have I watched their graceful hght and rapid flight, as they 

 advanced and passed over in groups of twenty, thirty or more, from the 

 delightful residence of my worthy friend and kind relative Nicholas 

 Berthoud, Esq. of Shippingport, during the month of May, when Na- 

 ture, opening her stores anew, benignly smiled upon the favoured land 

 of Kentucky. The gay birds were seen ranging from the basin at the 

 foot of the rapids to the lower part of the narrow channel which separates 

 Sandy Island from the shore, up the clear stream and down again, plung- 

 ing at short intervals into the water to seize their prey, and continuing 

 their pleasing occupations through the whole day. When the period of 

 reproduction arrived, they would all betake themselves to the ponds, and 

 search along their moist shores for tufts of rank grass such as might form 



