88 THE SANDWICH TERN. 



and Arctic Terns, nearly immersing its whole body at times, but rising 

 instantly after, and quickly regaining a position from which it can advan- 

 tageously descend anew. Should the fish disappear, as the bird is descend- 

 ing, the latter instantly recovers itself without plunging into the water. Its 

 cries are sharp, grating, and loud enough to be heard at the distance of half a 

 mile. They are repeated at intervals while it is travelling, and kept up 

 incessantly when one intrudes upon it in its breeding grounds, on which 

 occasion it sails and dashes over your head, chiding you with angry notes 

 more disagreeable than pleasant to your ear. 



How many days these birds had been laying, when I discovered the key 

 on which they breed, I cannot say; but many of them were still engaged in 

 depositing their eggs, and none were as yet sitting on those which, being 

 three together, seemed to form the full complement. They had been 

 dropped on the sand, at short intervals, with scarcely any appearance of a 

 hollow for their reception. In some instances they were laid at the foot of 

 a scanty tuft of grass; but all were fully exposed to the heat of the sun, 

 which at this time I thought almost sufficient to cook them. The eggs 

 varied as much in colour as those of the Arctic Tern and Foolish Guillemot, 

 and were equally disproportionate to the size of the bird, their average length 

 being two inches and one-eighth, their greatest breadth one inch and three 

 and a half eighths. They are of an oval form, but rather sharp at the larger 

 end. The ground colour is yellowish-grey, varying in depth, and all more 

 or less spotted, blotched, or marked with different tints of umber, pale blue, 

 and reddish. I may add that these eggs are most capital eating. 



I never saw the Sandwich Tern on any other portion of our coasts than 

 between the Florida Keys and Charleston, and from whence it first came 

 there, or how it went thence to Europe, is an enigma which may perhaps 

 never be solved. On asking the wreckers if they had been in the habit of 

 seeing these birds, they answered in the affirmative, and added that they 

 paid them pretty frequent visits during the breeding season, on account of 

 their eggs as well as of the young, which, when nearly able to fly, they said 

 were also good eating. According to their account, this species spends the 

 whole winter near and upon the keys, and the young keep separate from the 

 old birds. 



Sandwich Tern, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 276. 



Sandwich Tern, Sterna cantiaca, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 531. 



Adult, 15|, 33|. 



From Texas, during spring and summer, to the Floridas, where it breeds 



