510 GREAT TERN. 
with the fish, which they have brought in their mouth or in their bill, 
and, tearing it in pieces, distribute it in such portions as their young 
are able to swallow. ‘ Afterwards they frequently feed them without 
alighting, as they skim over the spot; and, as the young become nearly 
ready to fly, they drop the fish among them, where the strongest and 
most active has the best chance to gobble it up. In the mean time, 
the young themselves frequently search about the marshes, generally 
not far apart, for insects of various kinds; but so well acquainted are 
they with the peculiar language of their parents, that warn them of. 
the approach of an enemy, that, on hearing their cries, they instantly 
squat, and remain motionless until the danger be over. 
The flight of the Great Tern, and, indeed, of the whole tribe, is not 
in the sweeping, shooting manner of the land Swallows, notwithstand- 
ing their name; the motions of their long wings are slower, and more 
in the manner of the Gull. They have, however, great powers of 
wing, and strength in the muscles of the neck, which enable them te 
make such sudden and violent plunges, and that from a considerable 
height too, headlong on their prey, which they never seize but with 
their bills. In the evening, I have remarked, as they retired from the 
upper parts of the bays, rivers, and inlets, to the beach for repose, 
iad breeding time, that each generally carried a small fish in his 
bill. 
As soon as the young are able to fly, they lead them to the sandy 
shoals and ripples where fish are abundant; and, while they occa- 
sionally feed them, teach them by their example to provide for them- 
selves. They sometimes penetrate a great way inland, along the 
courses of rivers; and are occasionally seen about all our numerous 
ponds, lakes, and rivers, most usually near the close of the summer. 
This species inhabits Europe as high as Spitzbergen; is found on 
the arctic coasts of Siberia and Kamtschatka, and also on our own 
continent as far north as Hudson’s Bay. In New England it is called 
by some the Mackerel Gull. It retires from all these places, at the 
approach of winter, to more congenial seas and seasons. 
The Great Tern is fifteen inches long, and thirty inches in extent : 
bill, reddish yellow, sometimes brilliant crimson, slightly angular on the 
lower mandible, and tipped with black ; whole upper part of the head, 
black, extending to a point half way down the neck behind, and inclu- 
ding the eyes; sides of the neck, and whole lower parts, pure white ; 
wing-quills, hoary, as if bleached by the weather, long and pointed ; 
whole back, scapulars, and wing, bluish white, or very pale lead color; 
rump and tail-coverts, white ; tail, long, and greatly forked, the exterior 
feathers being three inches longer than the adjoining ones, the rest 
shortening gradually for an inch and a half to the middle ones, the 
whole of a pale lead color; the outer edge of the exterior ones, black ; 
legs and webbed feet, brilliant red lead ; membranes of the feet. deep- 
ly scalloped; claws, large and black, middle one the largest. The pri- 
mary quill-feathers are generally dark on their inner edges. The 
female differs in having the two exterior feathers of the tail consider- 
ably shorter. The voice of these birds is like the harsh jarring of an 
opening door, rusted on its hinges. The bone of the skull is remark- 
ably thick and strong, as also the membrane that surrounds the brain ; 
in this respect resembling the Woodpecker’s. Tn both, this provision 
