The White-Winged Fleet 



TO A SUBSTANTIAL BED OF GRASS," ANOTHER NEST 

 OF COMMON TERN, MAGDALEN ISLANDS 



and Bonaparte's Gulls, whose presence certainly 

 enlivened the scene for me. 



Ofif the southern shores of Massachusetts there 

 are various sandy islands on which these Terns and 

 others breed. 

 One of these 

 others, not yet 

 spoken of, is the 

 beautiful Rose- 

 ate Tern, very 

 similar in appear- 

 ance and habit, 

 breeding near 

 and even among 

 the other spe- 

 cies, but distinguishable by its slender form and long 

 tail, and a very white breast, that in the right light 

 shows a beautiful pink blush of a most delicate hue. 

 Any adjectives that I could use would be far inade- 

 quate to describe the grace and beauty of the 

 Roseate Tern. 



In the same habitat, from Massachusetts south- 

 ward, is found that dainty little sylph, the Least 

 Tern. I first saw it along the broad, lonely ocean 

 beaches of the "back-side" of Cape Cod. There, 

 as we walk along, several little Terns, much smaller 

 than the other kinds, hover rather high over or 

 beyond us, uttering their shrill staccato "yip, yip, 

 yip." After a good deal of tramping, keeping our 

 eyes painfully upon the blinding glare of the dry, 

 sandy expanse back from high-water mark, we may 

 now and then detect two, or occasionally three, little 

 eggs that look almost exactly like the mottled peb- 



143 



