OF VIRGINIA 7 
Like the Least Tern, this handsome large tern is now 
a rare bird in our territory, although a few pair still 
breed on one of our coastal islands. It was never thought 
as common a bird as the Royal Tern, and I do not attribute 
its decrease in numbers to being shot by the spring 
gunners, and egging by local seafaring men, causes so 
disastrous to some of the following species. The changed 
conditions of the islands affecting their breeding grounds 
has had much to do with their leaving our territory for 
nesting sites elsewhere. They are one of the last sea-birds 
to lay, fresh eggs being seldom found before the 5th of 
July. They arrive about the 15th of May and migrate 
southward the latter part of August. The nest is a slight 
hollow scooped out by the birds in the sandy beach, well 
back from the water, in which is deposited two eggs, 
seldom three. The eggs are easily distinguished from 
those of the following species, the ground color being a 
light olive or grayish-buff, while the texture of the shell 
is much smoother, and the smaller ends much more round 
than that of the Royal Tern. Over the entire surface the 
egg is spotted with blackish brown and chestnut, with 
fainter markings of lilac. Size of eggs, 2.70x1.75. Only 
one brood a season. 
[65]. Sterna maxima (Boddaert). Royal Tern. 
[Gannet Striker]. 
Rance.—Tropical coasts north to United States. 
Breeds in West Indies and on South Atlantic and Gulf 
coasts north to central Virginia and west to Texas; 
wanders casually to Massachusetts; not rare in summer 
