308 
THE ROSEATE TERN. 
well as when the air is moist. On going up to a breeding-place, 
which may be always discovered from a distance, as some of the 
birds are to be seen Sying about it, one is sure to be met by several 
of them, which hasten to remonstrate with him by harsh cries and 
threatened blows. As he draws nearer, more of them leave their 
nests ; and at length they are all on wing, wheeling and bounding, 
now high, now low, at times coming quite close, and increasing their 
cries, which resemble the syllables cree, cree^ cree-ae. 
When walking along the sandy shore — no bird nearer, perhaps, 
than a quarter of a mile — you may see one or two of them coming 
up from a distance, increasing their cries as they approach, then 
wheeling and plunging over and around you, and at length flying off. 
Proceeding at a moderate height, they stop now and then, hover a 
moment, dip into the water, and secure a sand-eel or young coal-fish. 
Many attend on the fishermen or others who are catching sand-eels 
for bait or food, to pick up those which slip from them disabled. On 
such occasions they are very vociferous, as they also are when they 
have fallen in with a shoal of fry. They never dive ; but I have 
often seen them alight on the water, and swim a little, and sometimes 
a whole flock may be observed reposing on the placid bosom of the 
waters, affording a very pleasing spectacle. They are very bad 
walkers, but on wing their movements are easy and elegant. They 
skim along, boundingly, with great speed, ascend or descend, deviate 
to either side, stop short in an instant, hover in one spot like a hawk, 
drop, dive, or plunge headlong, with surprising adroitness. Their 
mode of flying, however, does not resemble that of a swallow, and 
they obtain the popular name of Sea Swallows, rather on account of 
their forked tail. 
In very stormy weather they fly little, but shelter themselves by 
lying on the shore. AVhen satiated with food, or tired, they rest in 
the same manner, and when the young are about to fly, the whole 
colony often settle at night on some sand-point projecting into the 
sea, or on an elevated beach. During moonlight their cries may 
often be heard at night ; and sometimes, at low water, they search 
the shore for sand-eels at that season. When the young have been 
fed for some time by their parents, after leaving the breeding-places, 
they begin to separate from them, and at length live mostly apart. 
By the middle of September they have all left our northern coasts, 
and by the end of that month they have disappeared from the 
southern. Some individuals occasionally remain during winter in the 
south of England. 
MacdougalFs, or the Roseate Tern, is of the same form 
and size as the two last species, from which it may be dis- 
tinguished by the delicate roseate tint of the white imder 
parts ; the bill is rather longer than the head, slender and 
black all but the base, which is orange red. The head and 
