WATER BIRDS. 61 
bird plumage for millinery purposes well nigh exterminated the terns, 
thousands being killed on their nesting grounds, so that for a time the 
species was threatened with extinction. During the past ten years 
some legal protection has been secured for them and the cultivation of 
popular sentiment by the Audubon societies and their friends has lessened 
the destruction for such purposes. 
In common with other birds which nest in colonies the eggs are used as 
food by fishermen, Indians and other more or less irresponsible persons, 
and the wasteful methods employed not only prevent increase, but in many 
instances have driven the birds away from their favorite nesting grounds. 
Formerly it was not an uncommon thing for parties to visit an island and 
break every egg which could be found, going thoroughly over the surface 
and taking pains not to omit a single nest. On a second visit a day or 
two later any eggs found were sure to be fresh and were collected and 
carried away. This method, however, so often resulted in the desertion 
of the island by the terns that it has become customary on the first visit 
merely to collect all the eggs of the colony into a few large heaps without 
breaking any eggs or otherwise disturbing the nests. The birds then 
continue to lay in the same nests and often a supply of fresh eggs is obtained 
in this way for a month or six weeks. The present law makes such action 
as this punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both, and it is hoped that 
strict enforcement of the law may be obtained. 
The terns feed mainly on fish and perhaps are not of any great economic 
importance, but they are among the most graceful birds in the world and 
their beauty of plumage, sprightly actions and entire lack of harmful 
qualities commend them to the public at large, as well as to the bird lover. 
This species differs much in its nesting habits according to circumstances. 
It loves to lay its eggs in little’hollows in the clear sand, but it frequently 
lays them among the coarser pebbles without a vestige of nesting material, 
while in other places it makes a hollow in the sand or gravel and lines it 
with grass, weed-stalks or “‘sea-wrack.”” Asa rule it avoids inland marshes 
and prefers to nest on open sandy islands rather than among the rushes 
and sedges. At St. Clair Flats Langille states that it most often lays its 
eggs on the tops of old musk-rat houses. The eggs are commonly three, 
very variable in ground color, which ranges from buffy-white to greenish- 
olive, covered sometimes thinly, sometimes very thickly, with dots, spots, 
and blotches of various shades of brown, sometimes even black. The 
eggs average 1.57 by 1.17 inches. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult in breeding plumage: Entire upper half of head from bill to occiput black; sides 
of head and throat pure white; rest of under parts very pale gray, often almost white; 
mantle pearl gray; primaries deep gray with the inner half of the inner web pure white 
except near the tips; outer primary with outer web black, other primaries with outer webs 
like mantle; outer tail feather with outer web dark gray, inner web white; the remaining 
tail feathers with inner web paler gray, the central pair entirely white. Bill red with 
black tip; feet orange-red. The winter adult is similar except that most of the black of 
the head is replaced by white or gray; often the crown alone shows black, the forehead and 
sides of the head being entirely white. Young: So similar to those of several other 
species that only the expert can separate them, and for this purpose reference should be had 
to the detailed descriptions of Baird, Ridgway, or Coues. Length, 13 to 16 inches; wing, 
9.75 to 11.75; tail, 5 to 7 inches, so deeply forked that the inner feathers are at least 3 inches 
shorter than the outer; culmen, 1.25 to 1.50. 
