Song Birds and Water Fowl 



said that, in several years that he had lived 

 there, he had never yet detected a bird on its 

 nest. Their labors of incubation seem to be nil, 

 and the sun's rays in mid-summer are said to be 

 motherly enough for all practical purposes. The 

 wild-fowl vigor is thus manifest already in the 

 egg, but probably the birds sit on them in the 

 night. The shell is very thin and fragile, as the 

 skipper found when one broke in his pocket. 



It is far more difficult to learn the range of 

 water fowl than of land birds ; but it is evident 

 that gulls are northern representatives of a type 

 of water bird that finds its southern exponent in 

 the smaller and more delicate terns. The gen- 

 eral habits and appearance of gulls and terns are 

 much alike, and science calls them closely rela- 

 ted ; but the former come down to us from the 

 north in winter ; the latter come up to us from 

 the south in summer. 



Of the thirteen species of terns that we call 

 ours by reason of being seen at least occasional- 

 ly along the coast, only four summer in our lati- 

 tude. They are the arctic, roseate, Wilson (or 

 sea swallow), and "least" terns. Their re- 

 sorts in our neighborhood are chiefly the islands 

 at the northeast end of Long Island, and those 

 lying near Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. 



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