564 BIRDS — LAEIDJE. 



Habitat, Europe. Eastera North America generally. BahamaB. Breeds variously in 

 itB North American range ; -vcinters in the United States north to 57° ; passes beyond 

 Texas. 



Common spring and fall migrant, perhaps not common summer resident 

 on Lake Erie, less common or irregular throughout the State. In this 

 vicinity the Common Tern is most frequently seen in spring, when it 

 sometimes appears in considerable flocks on our river. In the fall a 

 solitary individual sometimes lingers for several days. Mr. Langdon 

 mentions its rather common occurrence on Sandusky Bay in summer. 



The appearance of any of the birds of this family in the interior of the 

 State is so irregular and transient, as to render their study a matter of 

 uncertainty, if not accident, except upon the shore of Lake Erie. Mr. 

 William Brewster (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, iv, 1879, 13) is so felicitous 

 in his paper " On the Terns of the New England Coast," that I trust I 

 need make no apology for giving it here entire : 



" Among all the sea-birds that with the changing seasons visit onr New England shores 

 there are none half so beaatifal as the Terns, or Sea- Swallows. Family Laridce, sub- 

 family Sternince, genus Sterna,— thus they are classed in the books. What a pity their 

 names could not have been more aptly chosen ! There is much in a name, and Sterna 

 sounds hard and cold. Nor is the English appellation. Tern, a whit more appropriate 

 or beautiful. Why could not these birds of graceful motion and fanltless coloring have 

 borne the name of Aphrodite ? Perhaps like her they were evolved from the sea-foam. 

 No sea-foam can be purer than their spotless breasts, and the softest tints of the 

 summer sky are impressed upon their pearly mantles. If ever birds were born of the sea 

 surely they are these. The delicate rosy blush of at least one species mast have been 

 borrowed from some rare shell. But Science, plodding and realistic, frowns upon such 

 imagery, and her solid columns of tacts and figures are resistless. 



" Occurring more or iess regularly along the coast of New Englaud, we find eleven 

 species of Terns, all of which, with one possible exception (_Sterna caspia), are either 

 summer residents or migratory during the spring or fall months. Of this number five 

 species may be set down as accidental visitors, which are either blown from their course 

 by adverse winds or wander beyond the usual range. The Koyal Tern (Sterna maxima), 

 the Marsh Tern (S. anglica), the Sandwich Tern (5. caniiaca), and the Sooty Tern (S. 

 fuliginosa) are stragglers from the South, while the Forster's Tern {S.forsieri), breeding 

 in the interior well up into thei far countries, probably strikes across to the coast and 

 follows its indentation southward. The last-named species, though rare, is of perhaps 

 too regular occurrence to be classed among the accidentals, for one or two specimens 

 are reported nearly every season, usually during the month of September. 



" The Caspian Tern — all previous statements to the contrary — must be considered a 

 regular visitor every season, and by no means uncommon. They come down from their 

 northern breeding-grounds during the latter part of September and for several weeks, 

 at least, are to be found in moderate numbers all along our seaboard. I have observed 

 them at various points from Ipswich to Nantucket. At the latter place, upon one occa- 

 sion, six individuals were seen fishing in the harbor near the town. As to their winter- 

 ing within New England limits, I can offer only negative evidence, but that points to 

 the inference that they pass farther south with the approach of severe weather. During 



