SHORT-TAILED TERN. 
159 
*Pac tlieii' .appearance, flying over those watery 
'th picking np grasshoppers, beetles, spiders, and 
ill ‘"sects, that were floating on the surface. Some 
4 ]] s ci them miglit be seen at the same time, and 
Hi ^cmingly of one sort. They were busy, silent, and 
h^^-F^picions, darting down after their prey without 
vj,^*‘on, tliough perpetually harassed by giiuucrs 
'Vi novelty of their appearance had drawn to 
Several flocks of the yellow shanks snipe, 
few purres, appeared also in the meadows at the 
'W driven thither doubtless by the violence of 
storm. 
i!])j .“‘‘aniined upwards of thirty individuals of this 
C(,| by dissection, and found both sexes alike in 
(pjj®’’. Their stomachs contained grasshoppers, crickets, 
&c. but no fish. The people on the sea coast 
Oji * .**iuce informed me that this l)ird comes to them 
Hr Ike end of summer, and is 
Vji ® fre(|uontly seen about the mill-ponds and fresh 
'H **’ oiarshes than in the bays; and add, that it feeds 
'Hi,*l'**shoppcrs and other insects which it finds on the 
st^lj ‘*"’s and marslies, picking them from the grass, as 
" from tlie surface of the water. They have 
. r known it to associate with flm lesser tern, and 
Si 
'*‘dpr 
it altogether a different bird. This opinion 
!Vf confirmed by the above circumstances, and by 
ct its greater extent of wing, being full three 
R’ider tlian the lesser tern, and also making its 
p|^*'‘‘nce after tlie others have gone off. 
c short-tailed tern measures eight inches and a 
the point of the bill to the tip of the tail, and 
^(mJ'T'three inches in extent; the bill is .an inch and 
in length, sharp pointed, and of a deep black 
5|i0(. ^ " patch of black covens the crown, auriculars, 
Hii the eye, and hindhead ; the forehead, eyc- 
of the neck, passing quite round below the 
W(.]j and whole lower parts, are pure white ; the 
'bp '*ark ash, each feather broadly tipt nath brown; 
biflf I "'ffs, a dark lead colour, extending an inch and a 
^"yond the tail, ivhich is also of the same tint, and 
