GREAT TERN. 
153 
248 . STBBNA BiaaNDO, i,inn.®ds. — great tekk. 
PLATE LX. FIG. I EWMBURGH COLLEGE 3HISEHM. 
'This bird belongs to a tribe very generally dispersed 
shores of the ocean. Their generic characters 
® these: — Bill, straight, sharp pointed, a little com- 
J?tsed and strong; nostrils, linear; tongue, slender, 
L^ted ; legs, short ; feet, webbed ; hind toe and its 
f > straight; wings, long; tail, generally forked. 
•ton enumerates twenty-iive species of this genus, 
^^ttered over various quarters of the world ; six of 
a at least, are natives of the United States. From 
W long pointed wings, they are generally known to 
(j^^fing people and others residing near the sea-shore 
a .ll^e name of sea swallows ; though some few, from 
„Tli 
••^fing people and others residing near the sea-shore 
*^'e name of sea swallows ; though some few, from 
near resemblance, are confounded with the gulls. 
'*e present species, or great tern, is common to the 
U,®''os of Europe, Asia, and America. It arrives on 
®oast of New Jersey about the middle or ‘20th of 
led, no doubt, by the multitudes of fish which at 
b j Season visit our shallow bays and inlets. By many 
fhn* ^•'lled the sheep’s-head gull, from arriving about 
.^•••ne time with the fish of that name, 
l^^^ont the middle or ‘20th of May this bird commences 
ou The preparation of a nest, which costs most 
birds so much time and ingenuity, is here 
itj ®8®ther dispensed with. The eggs, generally three 
dumber, are placed on the surface of the dry drift 
i’ ““ 1^''® O'" marsh, and covered by the 
Ve , O'lly during the night, or in wet, raw, or stormy 
Igf^'er. At all other times the hatching of them is 
•Heh 
I"® the heat of the sun. 
1 inch and 
•••'d three-quarters in length, by about 
. f*->nths in width, and are of a yellowish dun colour 
i,\"Rled with dark brown and pale Indian ink. Not- 
negligently abandoned 
ng they seem thus 
y, it is very . . 
®f the parents are generally fishing within view of 
l)Qj^^*'8^the day, it is very different in reality. One or 
