270 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



STERNA ANTILLAEUM (Lesson), 



LEAST TERN. , 



HABITS. 



Clearly impressed upon my mind is a vivid picture of a peaceful 

 summer scene in a remote corner of Cape Cod ; a broad, flat sandy 

 point stretched for a mile or more out into the sea ; the deep blue 

 ocean with its cooling breezes made a pleasing contrast to the glaring 

 white sands which reflected the heat of the midday sun; scattered 

 about on the sandy plain around me were the little hollows contain- 

 ing the eggs of the least tern, almost invisible among the pebbles, 

 bits of shells, and small stones, which they resembled so closely ; and 

 overhead the air was full of the graceful, flitting forms of this 

 little " sea swallow," darting down at me, with sharp cries of anxiety, 

 or soaring far aloft until they were lost to sight in the ethereal 

 blue of a cloudless sky. Such a picture as this was a common sight, 

 in those days, anywhere along the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts 

 to Florida, where the least tern was widely, distributed and very 

 abundant in all suitable localities. But its graceful form and deli- 

 cate plumage was so much in demand for the millinery trade that it 

 was practically extirpated in nearly all places where it was easily 

 accessible, leaving only a delightful memory of a joy that had 

 passed. It was never particularly shy and was easily killed on its 

 breeding grounds, its social and sympathetic habits making it a 

 simple matter to practically annihilate a whole colony in a single 

 season. 



Numerous colonies formerly existed on the southern coasts of New 

 England. Mr. William Brewster (1879) wrote that "formerly a 

 small colony of least terns nested annually upon the Ipswich sand 

 hills, but they have been entirely driven away by persecution," but 

 since that time they have not been found breeding north of Cape 

 Cod. Mr. John C. Cahoon (1890) wrote : 



Not a day passes in the summer that the fishermen about this island do not 

 patrol the beach in search of the tern's and piping plover's eggs. The birds have 

 no chance to breed. When I first visited the island about six years ago there 

 were several hundred pairs of least tern breeding, but they have now become 

 reduced to less than 25 pair. 



This and other Massachusetts colonies were practically annihilated 

 during the next few years, but a few 'small colonies have always 

 survived on the south coast of Martha's Vineyard, though they be- 

 came much reduced in numbers. On the much-frequented beaches, 

 near the summer resorts, the birds were shot and their eggs were 

 picked up by boys ; cats undoubtedly did their part in the extermina- 

 tion; and occasionally a whole colony was washed out by an extra 

 high tide. During recent years, since 1905, the least terns have been 

 slowly increasing in Massachusetts ; they are now breeding again in 



