76 



GREAT TERN. 

 STEMKA HiaUMDO. 

 [Plate LX.— Fig. 1.] 



Jlrct. Zool. p. 524, Xo, 448. — Le pierre garin, ou grande Hironddle de mer, Buff. VIII, 331. PL EnJ, 

 987. — Bewick, II, 181. — Peale's Museum, JV'o. 3485. 



THIS bird belongs to a tribe very generally dispersed over 

 the shores of the ocean. Their generic characters are these: — 

 Bill straight, sharp pointed, a little compressed and strong; nos- 

 trils linear; tongue slender, pointed; legs short; feet webbed; 

 hind toe and its nail straight; wings long; tail generally forked. 

 Turton enumerates twenty-five species of this genus, scattered over 

 various quarters of the world; six of which, at least, are natives 

 of the United States. From their long pointed wings they are ge- 

 nerally known to seafaring people and others residing near the sea 

 shore by the name of Sea Swallows; tho some few, from their near 

 resemblance, are confounded with the Gulls. 



The present species, or Great Tern, is common to the shores 

 of Europe, Asia and America. It arrives on the coast of New Jer- 

 sey about the middle or twentieth of April, led no doubt by the 

 multitudes of fish which at that season visit our shallow bays and 

 inlets. By many it is called the Sheep's-head Gull, from arriving 

 about the same time with the fish of that name. 



About the middle or twentieth of May this bird commences 

 laying. The preparation of a nest, which costs most other birds 

 so much time and ingenuity, is here altogether dispensed with. 

 The eggs, generally three in number, are placed on the surface of 

 the dry drift grass, on the beach or salt marsh, and covered by 

 the female only during the night, or in wet, raw or stormy wea- 



