LEAST TERN 
By T. GILBERT PEARSON 
The National Association of Audubon Societies 
Educational Leaflet No. 97 
One of the daintiest and most confiding of our sea-birds is the Least 
Tern. Except where they have been extensively shot or otherwise dis 
turbed they often exhibit a lack of fear that is astonishing. 
On the North Carolina coast I have frequently seen them light on 
the beach within fifteen or twenty feet of where I was standing in the 
open. Their aggression when one approaches their nests is equalled only 
by their near relative, the Arctic Tern. 
least tern feeding its mate on the nest 
Photographed by E. H. Forbush on an island ofif the Massachusetts Coast 
Forty years ago Least Terns were among the most numerous sea- 
birds inhabiting the North American continent. Their colonies, situated 
on islands or points of sandy peninsulas, could be found with great fre- 
quency as one travelled along our eastern coast from Maine to Texas. 
They also were found interiorly in some places, especially up the Missis- 
sippi River, and to a limited extent its tributaries. Here the birds bred on 
small shoals in the rivers. In those days they ranged as far north as 
Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa. 
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