120 LEAST TERN. 



no difference from those obtained in Labrador and in our Middle Districts. 

 Nay, once, in the middle of June, while wading through the quick-sands of 

 Bayou Sara in Louisiana, I came to a high and dry sand-bar where I picked 

 up several eggs belonging to three pairs of birds of this species, although 

 the distance was about two hundred miles from the sea in a direct line. I 

 have at various times observed this Tern on the waters of the Ohio in 

 autumn, and now and then in spring, at the latter period in company with 

 the Short-tailed Tern, Sterna nigra, and have again met with it on the 

 shores of Lake Erie. I have also found it in winter on the eastern coast of 

 the Floridas, but in small numbers. Few birds indeed seem to me to be so 

 irregular in their migratory movements, for they appear to stop at any con- 

 venient breeding place from Texas to Labrador. 



Few birds are more gentle than this delicate species is at times; for, appa- 

 rently unaware of danger from the vicinity of man, it allows him to approach 

 within a few yards, whether it be on wing or on the ground. Indeed, in 

 the latter case, I have seen it when gorged so reluctant to fly off that I have 

 more than once thought it was asleep, although on coming up I was always 

 disappointed in my attempts to catch it. Nothing can exceed the lightness 

 of the flight of this bird, which seems to me to be among water-fowls, the 

 analogue of the Humming-bird. They move with great swiftness at times, 

 at others balance themselves like Hawks over their prey, then dart with the 

 velocity of thought to procure the tiny fry beneath the surface of the waters. 

 When you invade their breeding place, they will sometimes sweep far away, 

 and suddenly return, coming so near as almost to strike you. While travel- 

 ling, their light but firm flight is wonderfully sustained; and on hearing and 

 seeing them on such occasions, one is tempted to believe them to be the 

 happiest of the happy. They seem as if marshalled and proceeding to a 

 merry-making, so gaily do they dance along, as if to the music of their own 

 lively cries. Now you see the whole group suddenly check their onward 

 speed, hover over a deep eddy supplied with numberless shrimps, and dash 

 headlong on their prey. Up rises the little thing with the shrimp in its 

 bill, and again down it plunges; and its movements are so light and graceful 

 that you look on with pleasure, and are in no haste to depart. Should this 

 scene be enacted while they have young in their company, the latter await 

 in the air the rise of their parents, meet them, and receive the food from 

 them. When all are satiated, they proceed on their journey, stopping at 

 another similar but distant place. 



Although along our Southern and Middle Districts, the Least Tern merely 

 scoops a very slight hollow in which to deposit its eggs, doing this from the 

 first of April to the first of June, according to the latitude of the place, those 

 which I found breeding on the coast of Labrador had formed very snug 



