Species IV. STERNA PLUMBEA* 



SHORT-TAILED TERN. 



[Plate LX. Fig. 3.] 



A SPECIMEN of this bird was first sent me by Mr. Beasley of Cape 

 May ; but being in an imperfect state, I could form no correct notion 

 of the species ; sometimes supposing it might be a young bird of the 

 preceding Tern. Since that time, however, I have had an opportunity 

 of procuring a considerable number of this same kind, corresponding 

 almost exactly with each other. I have ventured to introduce it in this 

 place as a new species ; and have taken pains to render the figure in the 

 plate a correct likeness of the original. 



On the sixth of September, 1812, after a violent north-east storm, 

 which inundated the meadows of Schuylkill in many places, numerous 

 flocks of this Tern all at once made their appearance, flying over those 

 watery spaces, picking up grasshoppers, beetles, spiders, and other 

 insects, that were floating on the surface. Some hundreds of them 

 might be seen at the same time, and all seemingly of one sort. They 

 were busy, silent and unsuspicious, darting down after their prey with- 

 out hesitation, though perpetually harassed by gunners, whom the 

 novelty of their appearance had drawn to the place. Several flocks of 

 the Yellow-shanks Snipe, and a few Purres, appeared also in the 

 meadows at the same time, driven thither, doubtless, by the violence of 

 the storm. 



I examined upwards of thirty individuals of this species, by dissec- 

 tion, and found both sexes alike in color. Their stomachs contained 

 grasshoppers, crickets, spiders, &c., but no fish. The people on the 

 seacoast have since informed me, that this bird comes to them only in 

 the fall, or towards the end of summer ; and is more frequently seen 

 about the mill-ponds, and fresh-water marshes, than in the bays ; and 

 add, that it feeds on grasshoppers, and other insects, which it finds on 

 the meadows and marshes, picking them from the grass, as well as from 

 the surface of the water. They have never known it to associate with 

 the Lesser Tern, and consider it altogether a difi"erent bird. This 

 opinion seems confirmed by the above circumstances, and by the fact 



* Prince Musignano asserts that this is the young of the Sterna nigra, a bird 

 inhabiting Europe as well as this country, and of which many nominal species 

 have been made. In this opinion he is probably correct. 



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