82 MARSH TERN. 



preference to lakes and rivers of the interior; and Mr. Selby states, that 

 "on the European continent it frequents the marshes and the lakes of 

 Neusidel and Platten in Hungary." The same naturalist also says: "Upon 

 investigating specimens from North America, I feel no hesitation in con- 

 sidering the Marsh Tern of Wilson's North American Ornithology to be 

 the same bird, although Mr. Ord (in his eighth volume of that work) is in- 

 clined to regard it as distinct, in consequence of some difference between 

 the length of the bill and tarsi, as expressed in a drawing of Sterna aranea 

 that he examined, and the proportions of those parts in the first species as 

 given by Montagu and Temminck." 



Now, reader, allow me to lay before you an account of the habits of the 

 Marsh Tern, a figure of an adult individual selected from among three shot 

 within a few hours of each other, and the measurements of several recent 

 birds. You may then judge whether or not our bird is that described by 

 Montagu. 



The Marsh Tern is pretty abundant about the salt-marshes of the mouths 

 of the Mississippi in the beginning of April; and by following the shores of 

 the Gulf of Mexico, you will find that it comes to us from beyond Texas, 

 as many make their appearance along that coast in a straggling manner 

 during spring, there being seldom more than half a dozen together, and 

 generally only two. Their journeys are performed over the waters of the 

 sea, a few hundred yards from the shore; and when in want of food, they 

 diverge from their ordinary course, and ranging over the land satisfy their 

 hunger, when they resume their route. 



Excepting the Cayenne Tern, I know no American species that has so 

 powerful a flight as the present. To this power is added an elegant light- 

 ness that renders it most conspicuous and pleasing during the love season. 

 Then "the happy pair" are seen to rise in elegant circling sweeps, almost 

 in the manner of Hawks, and only a few feet apart, until they attain a height 

 of about two hundred yards, when they come close together, and then glide 

 with extended pinions through the air, the male over the female, both emit- 

 ting tender and plaintive notes, while they vary their evolutions at the same 

 height for five or six minutes. After this the winged lovers separate, plunge 

 towards the earth with wonderful rapidity, resume their ordinary notes, and 

 seek for food in concert. The usual cry of these birds is rough, sharp, dis- 

 tinguishable at a considerable distance, and often repeated as if to assure each 

 other that they are near. When an accident happens to the female during 

 the breeding season, her mate manifests a most affectionate concern; but the 

 female in such a case acts differently. On shooting several males on various 

 occasions, whether they were killed outright, or fell wounded on the earth 

 or the water, I observed that the female would only take a round as she rose 



