376 LESSER TERN. 



LESSER TEEN. {Sterna minuta.) 



PLATE LX.— Fig. 2. 



Arct. Zool. No. 449.— La Petite Hirondelle de Mer, Buff. viii. 337, PL enl. 996.— 

 Beivick, ii. 183. — Peale's Museum, No. 3505. 



STERNA MINUTA . -Linn^us. * 



Sterna minuta, Bonap. Synop. — Flem. Br. Zool. p. 144. — Temm. Man. d'Orn. 



ii. p. 75. 



This beautiful little species looks like the preceding in 

 miniature, but surpasses it far in the rich glossy satin-like 

 white plumage with which its throat, breast, and whole lower 

 parts are covered. Like the former, it is also a bird of passage, 

 but is said not to extend its migrations to so high a northern 

 latitude, being more delicate and susceptible of cold. It 

 arrives on the coast somewhat later than the other, but in 

 equal and perhaps greater numbers ; coasts along the shores, 

 and also over the pools in the salt marshes, in search of prawns, 

 of which it is particularly fond ; hovers, suspended in the air, 

 for a few moments above its prey, exactly in the manner of 

 some of our small hawks, and dashes headlong down into 

 the water after it, generally seizing it with its bill ; mounts 

 instantly again to the same height, and moves slowly along 

 as before, eagerly examining the surface below. About the 

 25th of May, or beginning of June, the female begins to lay. 



* This species is common to Europe and the northern continent of 

 America. Bonaparte mentions another closely allied species, which 

 appears to take its place in South America, and has been confounded 

 with it. 



The breeding places of this tern are somewhat different from many 

 of those British species with which we are acquainted. Most of the 

 latter breed on rocky coasts and solitary islands, while the little tern 

 prefers flat shingly beaches, where the eggs are deposited in the manner 

 described by Wilson, — in some little hollow or footstep. They become 

 clamorous on approaching the nest, but seem hardly so familiar or bold 

 as most of the others. The young soon leave the hollow where they 

 were hatched, and move about as far as their limited powers will 

 allow. — Ed. 



