GULLS AND TERNS. 273 
regions of the far north. It has no fancy, however, 
for extremely cold weather, and winters in a mild 
climate. We see them first in mid-spring, and they 
nest along our Atlantic seaboard. 
Wilson’s account is as follows: 
“ About the middle or twentieth of May this bird commences lay- 
ing. The preparation of a nest, which costs most other birds so 
much time and ingenuity, is here altogether dispensed with. The 
eggs, generally three in number, are placed on the surface of the dry 
drift grass, on the beach or salt marsh, and covered by the female 
only during the night, or in wet, raw, or stormy weather. At all 
other times the hatching of them is left to the heat of the sun. 
These eggs measure an inch and three-quarters in length by about 
an inch and two-tenths in width, and are of a yellowish dun color, 
sprinkled with dark brown and pale Indian ink. Notwithstanding 
they seem thus negligently abandoned during the day, it is very 
different in reality. One or both of the parents are generally 
fishing within view of the place, and on the near approach of any 
person, instantly make their appearance overhead, uttering a hoarse 
jarring kind of cry, and flying about with evident symptoms of great 
anxiety and consternation. The young are generally produced at 
intervals of a day or so from each other, and are regularly and 
abundantly fed for several weeks, before their wings are sufficiently 
grown to enable them to fly. At first the parents alight 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.” 
Of the other terns little need be said. Their 
habits do not vary sufficiently from what has already 
