easy reach of many of our most frequented sea-side 

 resorts, and is, no doubt, still to be seen in certain 

 localities remote from the haunts of man. But, alas ! 

 this bird is one of the many that the plumassiers consider 

 as an appropriate " set-off" for the heads of their custo- 

 mers, and I have frequently been horrified at seeing the 

 whole skin of a Tern stuck in front of a woman's hat, 

 with the addition of glass eyes, generally red or yellow, 

 but never of the right colour ; the forked tails also of 

 this species and of the Little Tern are very common 

 disfigurements to the occasionally otherwise attractive 

 heads of the slaves of barbarous Fashion. 



The food of this Tern consists almost exclusively of 

 small fishes. I never noticed it in pursuit of flying 

 insects, which form a large part of the diet of the 

 Marsh-Terns, Hydrochelidon. 



I have met with this species throughout the Mediter- 

 ranean and on some of the lakes of Northern Italy and 

 Switzerland. 



