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THE ARCTIC TERN. 



4Sterna Arctica, Temm. 

 PLATE CCCCXXXVI.— Male. 



Light as a sylph, the Arctic Tern dances through the air above and around 

 you. The graces, one might imagine, had taught it to perform those beau- 

 tiful gambols which you see it display the moment you approach the spot 

 which it has chosen for its nest. Over many a league of ocean has it passed, 

 regardless of the dangers and difficulties that might deter a more considerate 

 traveller. Now over some solitary green isle, a creek or an extensive bay, 

 it sweeps, now over the expanse of the boundless sea; at length it has reached 

 the distant regions of the north, and amidst the floating icebergs stoops to 

 pick up a shrimp. It betakes itself to the borders of a lonely sand-bank, or 

 a low rocky island; there side by side the males and the females alight, and 

 congratulate each other on the happy termination of their long journey. 

 Little care is required to form a cradle for their progeny; in a short time 

 the variegated eggs are deposited, the little Terns soon burst the shell, and 

 in a few days hobble towards the edge of the water, as if to save their fond 

 parents trouble; feathers now sprout on their wings, and gradually invest 

 their whole body; the young birds at length rise on wing, and follow their 

 friends to sea. But now the brief summer of the north is ended, dark 

 clouds obscure the sun, a snow-storm advances from the polar lands, and 

 before it skim the buoyant Terns, rejoicing at the prospect of returning to 

 the southern regions. 



The day after our arrival at the Magdalene Islands, the weather was beau- 

 tiful, although a stiff breeze blew from the south-west. I landed with my 

 party at an early hour, and we felt as if at a half-way house on our journey 

 from Nova Scotia to Labrador. Some of us ascended the more elevated 

 parts of those interesting islands, while others walked along the shores. A 

 clean sand-beach lay before us, and we proceeded over it, until having 

 reached a kind of peninsula, we were brought to a stand. The Piping 

 Plover ran and flew swiftly before us, emitting its soft and mellow notes, 

 while some dozens of Arctic Terns were plunging into the waters, capturing 

 a tiny fish or shrimp at every dash. Until that moment this Tern had 

 not been familiar to me, and as I admired its easy and graceful motions, 



