269 



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. 



" The flight of the Great Tern, and indeed of the whole tribe, is not in the sweeping shooting 

 manner of the land-Swallows, notwithstanding their name; the motions of their long wings are 

 slower, and more in the manner of the Gull. They have, however, great powers of wing and 

 strength in the muscles of the neck, which enable them to make such sudden and violent plunges, 

 and that from a considerable height, too, headlong on their prey, which they never seize but with 

 their bills. In the evening, I have remarked, as they retired from the upper parts of the bays, 

 rivers, and inlets to the beach for repose, about breeding-time, that each generally carried a small 

 fish in his bill. As soon as the young are able to fly, they lead them to the sandy shoals and 

 ripples where fish are abundant, and, while they occasionally feed them, teach them by their 

 example to provide for themselves. They sometimes penetrate a great way inland, along the 

 courses of rivers, and are occasionally seen about all our numerous ponds, lakes, and rivers, most 

 usually near the close of the summer." 



Macgillivray writes as follows : — " With us the Terns arrive in straggling flocks in the 

 beginning of May, and soon after betake themselves to their breeding-places, which are sandy 

 tracts, gravelly or pebbly ridges on the shore, rocky ground, or sometimes low rocks. In the 

 latter kind of situation they make an imperfect nest of bits of grass or fragments of dry sea- 

 weeds ; but on sand they merely form a depression. When walking along the sandy shore, no 

 bird nearer, perhaps, than a quarter of a mile, you may see one or two of them coming up from 

 a distance, increasing their cries as they approach, then wheeling and plunging over and around 

 you, and at length flying off. Proceeding at a moderate height, they stop now and then, hover a 

 moment, dip into the water, and secure a sand-eel or young coal-fish. Many attend on the 

 fishermen or others who are catching sand-eels for bait or food, to pick up those which slip from 

 them disabled. On such occasions they are very vociferous, as they also are when they have 

 fallen in with a shoal of fry. They never dive ; but I have often seen them alight on the water 

 and swim a little ; and sometimes a whole flock may be observed reposing on the placid bosom of 

 the waters, affording a very pleasing spectacle. They are very bad walkers ; but on wing their 

 movements are easy and elegant; they skim along, boundingly, with great speed, ascend or 

 descend, deviate to either side, stop short in an instant, hover in one spot like a Hawk, drop, 

 dive, or plunge headlong with surprising adroitness. Their mode of flying, however, does not 

 resemble that of a Swallow ; and they obtain the popular name of Sea-Swallows rather on account 

 of their forked tail. In very stormy weather they fly little, but shelter themselves by lying on 

 the shore. When satiated with food, or tired, they rest in the same manner ; and when the young 

 are able to fly, the whole colony often settle at night on some sand-point projecting into the sea, 

 or on an elevated beach. During moonlight their cries may often be heard at night ; and some- 



