﻿3<0 HKI.Ii AND I'UKKST. 



ot Columbia. The specimen was obtained lasl Summer on the Poto- 

 mac, in the vicinity of (leorgetown. farther down the rivet, where 

 salt water is reached, this is the most abundant species. 



in spending my summer vacation, two years ago, at Piney Point, 

 Maryland, some ninety miles from Washington, I had abundant op- 

 portunity to watch and study the movements of this beautiful bird. 



Their elegant appearance, whether flying gracefully over the water 

 in search of their food, or floating jauntily on adrift log, or darting 

 swiftly from place to place, make them very attractive. 



I started out one fine morning, on a collecting tramp, and the sun, 

 which had risen clear and bright, gave evidence of a warm, sultry day, 

 but the wind, shifting, scattered the clouds over the sky, and a dull, 

 rather cool day followed. 1 continued my walk to the river ; the re- 

 ceding tide had left a sand bar high and dry some twenty feet from 

 the shore, and on this I noticed a flock of Forster's Terns, which took 

 flight as I approached. I fired, one dropping dead amid the shrill 

 cries of his companions. 



As the water was very shallow I commenced to take off my shoes 

 and stockings in order to wade out and secure my specimen, but to my 

 astonishment the whole flock renewed their cries vociferously and com- 

 menced to circle around me and from me to the dead bird as if they 

 knew that I was responsible for their companion's misfortune. 



As I commenced wading, the birds seemed to ascertain my ob- 

 ject, and they with one accord, began to fly higher and enlarge their 

 circle, and flying faster than the rest of the flock the first six or eight 

 separated themselves in single file, and each one while flying, with a 

 strenuous effort, gave the dead bird a push with its feet ; each individ- 

 ual of the flock pushed in rapid succession, and soon would have had 

 the specimen beyond my reach if a friendly boat had not come along 

 and rescued it and dispersed the flock. 



This curious trait in this tern stands, I think, without a parallel in 

 the history of birds. One can easily account for the maternal instinct 

 which prompts a mother, at whatever personal risk, to protect her 

 young ; and it is well known that some birds, titmice and parrots for 

 instance, will hover around and appear entirely unconscious of 

 danger while their companions are being destroyed, but, for a whole 

 flock of birds to act in perfect unison and with one impulse, which can 

 hardly be credited to instinct, (as it is scarcely to be supposed the 



