378 LESSER TERN. 



passing you on its flight, and within a few yards, as it traces 

 the windings and indentations of the shore in search of its 

 favourite prawns and skippers. Indeed, at such times it 

 appears altogether heedless of man, or its eagerness for food 

 overcomes its apprehensions for its own safety. We read in 

 ancient authors, that the fishermen used to float a cross of 

 wood, in the middle of which was fastened a small fish for a 

 bait, with limed twigs stuck to the four corners, on which the 

 bird darting was entangled by the wings. But this must have 

 been for mere sport, or for its feathers, the value of the bird 

 being scarcely worth the trouble, as they are generally lean, 

 and the flesh savouring strongly of fish. 



The lesser tern is met with in the south of Russia, and 

 about the Black and Caspian Seas; also in Siberia about the 

 Irtish.* With the former, it inhabits the shores of England 

 during the summer, where it breeds, and migrates, as it does 

 here, to the south as the cold of autumn approaches. 



This species is nine and a half inches long, and twenty 

 inches in extent ; bill, bright reddish yellow ; nostril, pervious ; 

 lower mandible, angular ; front, white, reaching in two narrow 

 points over the eye ; crown, band through the eye, and hind 

 head, black, tapering to a point as it descends ; cheeks, sides 

 of the neck, and whole lower parts, of the most rich and glossy 

 white, like the brightest satin; upper parts of the back and 

 wings, a pale glossy ash or light lead colour ; the outer edges 

 of the three exterior primaries, black, their inner edges white ; 

 tail, pale ash, but darker than the back, and forked, the two 

 outer feathers an inch longer, tapering to a point ; legs and 

 feet, reddish yellow ; webbed feet, claws, and hind toe exactly 

 formed like those of the preceding. The female nearly 

 resembles the male, with the exception of having the two 

 exterior tail-feathers shorter. 



* Pennant. 



