The Least Tern 



cited birds. The pair most nearly threatened does not hesitate to 

 dive and shriek, after the fashion of the falcon, while all about us 

 is a bewildering chorus of expletives. Uik, uik, uik, squeals the exas- 

 perated bird in accents which would do credit to a baby porker caught in 

 the fence. Uik, uik, grunts a sympathetic neighbor, in spite of a slender 

 minnow dangling from her beak; while the less disturbed express them- 

 selves in a more musical tone, kit'oo, kit'oo or jik, jik, kit'oo. 



As often as we are quiet, the gentle Terns begin to settle. But as 



they do so, they oftenest 

 remain for a moment or so 

 with wings daintily uplifted. 

 This may be partly for readi- 

 ness to instant flight, or partly 

 as a decoy signal, for they 

 sometimes make a little run 

 with the wings up, and then 

 look about over the shoulder 

 to see if we are following. 

 There is no law or order 

 whatever about a choice of 

 nesting places. One may 

 be marked by a stick or a 

 clam-shell hard by; another 

 will be on the bare sand a rod 

 from any other object. Now 

 and then a bit of scattered 

 drift may attract attention, 

 and occasionally a brooding 

 Snowy Plover, already es- 

 tablished, will act as a sort 

 of land-mark for the home- 

 steading tern. Once I found 

 two eggs of the tern quar- 

 tered with three of the plover. 

 The tern I knew to be the 

 offender; and I think she 

 acted from no more sinister 

 motive than that of using a 

 recommended site. 



Because of incessant dis- 

 turbance to which the birds 

 are subjected, incubation will 



Taken near Santa Barbara 



FACE TO FACE 



TAKEN FROM BLIND AT RANGE OF 2 }4 F 



Photo by the Author 



H56 



