THE TERNS. 53 1 



It is on their breeding grounds, however, that the Terns 

 may be studied to the best advantage. As one lands on Flat 

 Island, the air in every direction seems alive with them. 

 They rise beyond gun-shot, the great mass intersecting their 

 snowy circles against the sky, and the aggregate of their 

 hoarse ter-r-r-r-r-r, ter-r-r-r-r-r, becoming almost deafen- 

 ing. As one approaches the nesting places, which are here 

 and there all over the island, some will drop down and 

 hover noisily only a few yards above one's head. Then it 

 is that the pure under parts, the gracefully spread tail, the 

 bright eyes, and the bills and feet of bright carmine, appear 

 to the best advantage. In all their varying attitudes, this 

 moving cloud of lithe and elegant creatures is a most pleas- 

 ing and animating study. 



In this dense moving mass, the species far the most nu- 

 merous is the Arctic Tern (Sterna macrurd). Length, 14.00- 

 I'Z.OO; extent, 28.00-30.00; tail, 5.00-8.00; bill, 1.20-1.40; 

 tarsus, .50-67. This kind is a little more bulky than the 

 Wilson. It is also generally distinguishable by its darker 

 under parts and its bill of clear carmine, but is invariably 

 so by its short tarsus — only a half inch or a little more. In 

 winter, and during the second summer, the fore part of the 

 crown is white, as it is also in the young of the year in its 

 mottled plumage of gray and brown, which was once called 

 the Portland Tern. The young have the bill and feet black 

 and the under parts white, even into the second summer. 

 Habitat: Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, generally, 

 south to the Middle States, and on the Pacific Coast to Cali- 

 fornia. Breeds from Massachusetts northward. 



Next in number, but few in comparison with the former, 

 as is also the case in all the breeding places of the Terns 

 visited on the coasts of the Province, is Wilson's, or the 

 Common Tern (Sterna hirundo). Length, some 14.00; extent. 



