LESSER TERN. 377 



The eggs are dropped on the dry and warm sand, the heat of 

 which, during the day, is fully sufficient for the purpose of 

 incubation. This heat is sometimes so great, that one can 

 scarcely bear the hand in it for a few moments without incon- 

 venience. The wonder would, therefore, be the greater should 

 the bird sit on her eggs during the day, when her warmth is 

 altogether unnecessary, and perhaps injurious, than that she 

 should cover them only during the damps of night, and in 

 wet and stormy weather ; and furnishes another proof that 

 the actions of birds are not the effect of mere blind impulse, 

 but of volition, regulated by reason, depending on various 

 incidental circumstances to which their parental cares are 

 ever awake. I lately visited those parts of the beach on Cape 

 May where this little bird breeds. The eggs, generally four 

 in number, were placed on the flat sands, safe beyond the 

 reach of the highest summer tide. They were of a yellowish 

 brown colour, blotched with rufous, and measured nearly an 

 inch and three-quarters in length. During my whole stay, 

 these birds flew in crowds around me, and often within a few 

 yards of my head, squeaking like so many young pigs, which 

 their voice strikingly resembles. A humming-bird, that had 

 accidentally strayed to the place, appeared suddenly among 

 this outrageous group, several of whom darted angrily at him ; 

 but he shot like an arrow from them, directing his flight 

 straight towards the ocean. I have no doubt but the dis- 

 tressing cries of the terns had drawn this little creature to 

 the scene, having frequently witnessed his anxious curiosity 

 on similar occasions in the woods. 



The lesser tern feeds on beetles, crickets, spiders, and other 

 insects, which it picks up from the marshes, as well as on 

 small fish, on which it plunges at sea. Like the former, it 

 also makes extensive incursions inland along the river courses, 

 and has frequently been shot several hundred miles from the 

 sea. It sometimes sits for hours together on the sands, as if 

 resting after the fatigues of flight to which it is exposed. 



The lesser tern is extremely tame and unsuspicious, often 



