BLACK TERN. 23 1 



In Europe it "is met with as far as Iceland. In, all situations it 

 appears to prefer the borders of rivers, lakes, or marshes to 

 the vicinity of the sea, except when engaged in its migrations. 



This Tern is a common summer inhabitant of England, ap- 

 pearing, according to Montagu, in Romney Marsh, in Kent, 

 about the latter end of April, breeding on the sedgy borders 

 of pools, and though very near to the sea, it is rarely seen 

 on the shores till after the breeding-season, and is then un- 

 common. These birds breed Ukewise in the fens of Lincoln- 

 shire, making a nest of flags or broad grass upon a tuft just 

 elevated above the surface of the water. 



The young of this species are rather common on the coasts 

 of New Jersey during autumn, on their way still farther 

 south to pass the winter. Wilson observed a flock of these 

 driven inland as far as the meadows of the Schuylkill, by a 

 violent storm from the northeast. Hundreds of them were to 

 be seen at the same time, accompanied by flocks of the Yel- 

 low-Legs and a few Purres (Tringa alpina). Famished by 

 the accident which had impelled them from their usual abodes, 

 they were now busy, silent, and unsuspicious, darting down 

 after their prey of beetles, grasshoppers, and other insects, now 

 afloat by the inundation, without hesitating, though perpetually 

 harassed by gunners, who had assembled to view the extra- 

 ordinary spectacle of these rare flocks of wandering birds. In 

 ordinary, as in Europe, they frequent mill-ponds and fresh- 

 water marshes, in preference to the bays and the sea-coast. 



The Black Tern is a common bird on the lakes of the interior 

 north to Alaska, and is seen on the sea-coast chiefly during the fall 

 migration. It breeds southward to tlie Middle States, west of the 

 Alleghanies. Occasional examples occur along the Massachusetts 

 shore, and some have been taken at Grand Menan. 



In " Birds of Manitoba" Thompson writes : — "It seems not to 

 subsist on fish at all, but chiefly on dragon flies and various aquatic 

 insects. It finds both its home and its food in the marshes usually, 

 but its powers of flight are so great that it may also be seen far out 

 on the dry open plains, scouring the country for food at a distance 

 of miles from its nesting ground." 



