BLACK TERN. 
101 
Hat, which it always prefers to a clean sandy bottom, it car¬ 
ries its head with the neck shortened, its breast lowered, and 
its body in a horizontal position, with its wings crossed one 
over the other, and carried considerably above the tail; it 
seems particularly partial to the neighbourhood of sedges. 
Its walking propensities are not great, and it is therefore only 
under favourable circumstances that one can get a sight of the 
Black Tern on the ground, and see it trip about for a short 
distance, either in pursuit of food or in search of materials for 
its nest during the breeding-season. It is also very rarely 
seen to swim, an act which it does not perform but from 
necessity. 
Respecting the powers of flight of the Black Tern suffi¬ 
cient has been said; it is only necessary to add, that this 
bird passes most of its time on the wing, in the manner of 
the swifts. 
The call-note of the Black Tern sounds like the word 
hear, kear! which is uttered in a soft and plaintive manner, 
and is rather pleasing. 
The food of this species consists principally of aquatic in¬ 
sects and their larvae, small insects that frequent the bogs, the 
small fry of flsh, young frogs, frog-spawn, and worms. Dur¬ 
ing the breeding-season, when the Black Tern has to sup¬ 
ply the wants of its young brood, it is very early on the wing 
in the morning, and may be seen to skim over meadows and 
cultivated flelds, in the same manner as it flies over the surface 
of the water, and when it meets with a worm or other suitable 
insect, it settles on the ground for an instant beside its prey, 
secures it in its beak, and immediately flies away with it; for 
it is unable to take anything from the surface of the ground 
while on the wing ; when catching a small fish, or a swimming- 
aquatic insect, the bird dips for it, but does not dive; and its 
aim is unerring. 
