Sipresesy 
512 LESSER TERN 
lately visited those parts of the beach on Cape May, where this little 
bird breeds. The eggs, generally four in number, were placed on the 
flat sands, safe beyond the reach of the highest summer tide. They 
were of a yellowish brown color, blotched with rufous, and measured 
nearly an inch and three quarters in length. During my whole stay, 
these birds flew in crowds around me, and often within a few yards of 
my head, squeaking like so many young pigs, which their voice striking 
resembles. A Humming Bird, that had accidentally strayed to the 
place, appeared suddenly among this outrageous group, several of 
whom darted angrily at him; but he shot like an arrow from them, di- 
recting his flight straight towards the ocean. I have no doubt but the 
distressing cries of the Terns had drawn this little creature to the 
scene, having frequently witnessed his anxious curiosity on similar oc- 
casions in the woods. 
The Lesser Tern feeds on beetles, crickets, spiders, and other in- 
sects, which it picks up from the marshes, as well as on small fish, on 
which it plunges at sea. Like the former, it also makes extensive in- 
cursions inland along the river courses, and has frequently been shot 
several hundred miles.from the sea. It sometimes sits for-hours to- 
gether on the sands, as if resting after the fatigues of flight to which 
it is exposed, 
The Lesser Tern is extremely tame and unsuspicious, often passing 
you on its flight, and within a few yards, as it traces the windings 
and indentations of the shore in search of its favorite prawns and 
skippers. Indeed, at such times it appears altogether heedless of 
man, or its eagerness for food overcomes its apprehensions for its own 
safety. We read in ancient authors, that the fishermen used to float 
a cross of wood, in the middle of which was fastened a small fish for 
a bait, with limed twigs stuck to the four corners, on which the bird 
darting, was entangled by the wings. But this must have been for 
mere sport, or for its feathers, the value of the bird being scarcely 
worth the trouble, as they are generally lean, and the flesh savoring 
strongly of fish. 
The Lesser Tern is met with in the south of Russia, and about the 
Black and Caspian Sea; also in Siberia about the Irtish.* With 
the former, it inhabits the shores of England during the summer, 
where it breeds, and migrates, as it does here, to the south, as the cold 
of autumn approaches. 
This species is nine and a half inches long, and twenty inches in 
extent; bill, bright reddish yellow; nostril, pervious ; lower mandible, 
angular; front, white, reaching in two narrow points over the eye; 
crown, band through the eye, and hind head, black, tapering to a 
point as it descends; cheeks, sides of the neck, and whole lower 
parts, of the most rich and glossy white, like the brightest satin; up- 
per parts of the back and wings, a pale glossy ash, or light lead color ; 
the outer edges of the three exterior primaries, black, their inner 
edges white ; tail, pale ash, but darker than the back, and forked, the 
two outer feathers an inch longer, tapering to a point; legs and feet, 
reddish yellow; webbed feet, claws, and hind toe exactly formed like 
those of the preceding. The female nearly resembles the male, with 
the exception of having the two exterior tail-feathers shorter. 
* PENNANT. 
