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This handsome Tern is very common in every part of the South Island, but is not so plentiful to the 
north side of Cook’s Strait. 
In the Canterbury Province it is particularly abundant, frequenting all the river-courses, and 
often spreading far over the plains. Within a few miles of the city of Christchurch I have observed 
it, in large flights, following the farmer’s plough and picking up grubs and worms from the newly 
turned earth. I once saw a Hawk swoop down amongst a flock occupied in this manner and single 
out a bird for pursuit, but tbe active Tern easily evaded its enemy and then returned to its occupa- 
tion behind the plough. It also frequents the cornfields and pastures, and, by devouring caterpillars 
and other insect pests, proves itself a valuable friend to the agriculturist. 
It is remarkably active on the wing, performing very rapid evolutions, and often chasing its 
fellows in a playful manner and with much vociferation. When resting on the ground, the members 
of a flock stand closely packed together, and may be seen constantly stretching their wings upwards 
in the peculiar manner already noticed in treating of Sterna frontalis . 
There is a spot of great beauty on the Waikato river where theKarapiro creek empties its placid 
waters into the turbulent stream of the “ tua-whenua.” The place I refer to is just below the bridge 
on the outskirts of the township of Cambridge — the furthest point on the river navigable for steamers. 
Immediately below this bridge there is a rocky obstruction in the bed of the river which causes an 
eddy of considerable force and velocity. The basin below is comparatively smooth, the river widening 
again at this point ; and the banks, clothed with rank verdure, rise abruptly on both sides of the 
Waikato. Beyond are the well-kept homesteads of the settlers and far away in the background the 
rugged outlines of Maungakawa and Pukekura. In this picturesque spot, for the best part of a fine 
Sunday afternoon in spring, my thoughts absorbed “ with the fairy tales of science and the long result 
of time,” I watched a pair of these birds disporting in the air. For hours together they coursed 
up and down this little reach in the river, never once dipping to the stream — indeed the water was 
too rapid at this point to allow of surface fish being found there: high above the water, now with a 
winnowing Pigeon-flight, now hovering a moment in the air — rising and falling with the play of 
their changeful fancy — coursing first up stream to near the bridge, then wheeling round ; sometimes 
skimming low at the place where the rapids were boiling over their rocky bed, as if to take a closer 
observation, and then, on reaching the bend in the river, sharply wheeling back again; and so on 
and on, now higher now lower, regulating their more rapid actions by a dexterous movement of their 
swallow-tails, and at every turn showing the snowy whiteness of their tail-coverts and their lovely 
coral bills. So these pretty fairy beings for hours together, without a rest and apparently for sheer 
enjoyment, continued to beat the air with their pointed pinions, seldom uttering a sound except 
when in close proximity to each other, and then Ice-e was the simple watchword. 
From watching these aerial performers in their fantastic flight till the sun had declined and its 
shadows had vanished, I ascended the high bank overlooking the river and witnessed one of those 
gorgeous sunsets on the Pirongia range for which this part of the North Island is so justly celebrated. 
No artist’s brush can depict the glory nor human tongue describe the splendour of this sunset display. 
Presenting to the eye mountains of burnished gold in a sea of matchless colours and brilliant effects, 
the illusion lasts but a little while and then melts away in ever-varying coruscations of golden light 
till the sky is bathed in a soft grey twilight, to be quickly succeeded by the shades of night. Even 
Mr. Procter, the famous astronomer, declares that although in the sunset displays of America and 
Australia he has seen colours more striking, yet “ for combined beauty and grandeur ” the sunset 
which he once witnessed in New Zealand surpassed anything he had ever seen. 
From Hamilton Bridge, lower down the river, on a subsequent occasion, I watched a pair of 
these Terns engaged in the more serious business of fishing. Here, again, nothing could be more 
pretty than the arrowy flight of this bird up and down the stream. Skimming near the surface and 
