COMMON TERN. 
215 
From the variety in the appearance of the eggs, it is pretty 
obvious that the females indifferently and frequently lay in 
each other’s nests, in the manner of our common fowls in a 
state of domestication. Though to all appearance thus aban- 
doned to accident, the nests are constantly under the surveil- 
lance of the Terns, and the appearance of an intruding visitor 
on the solitary spot chosen for their breeding retreat fills the 
whole neighboring troop with dismay and alarm; and in 
defence of their young they are very bold, clamorous, and 
resentful, sweeping round and darting down so close to the 
visitor as sometimes to touch his hat, making at the same 
time a hoarse and creaking sound, and occasionally uttering a 
plaintive, long-drawn 'ptee-way ; and when much irritated and 
distressed by the fall of their companions or their brood by the 
gun, we hear a jarring k'k, k’k, k'k, as well as a piping plaint ; 
and at times they utter a bark almost like so many puppies. 
On a rocky islet near Nahant, in the vicinity of Boston, known 
by the name of the Egg Rock, thirty or forty pairs annually 
breed, and among these, others are also distinguished by the 
name of 'pee-boos, from the sound of their usual note. 
The young are often hatched at intervals of a day or two 
from each other, and are carefully fed and watched for several 
weeks before they are in a condition to fly. At first they are 
fed on small fish and insects, such as grasshoppers and beetles, 
the hard and indigestible parts of which food appearing to be 
rejected by the bill in the manner of rapacious birds. The 
young are afterwards fed without alighting, as they skim over 
the spot ; and then they merely drop the fish among the 
brood, when the strongest and most active are consequently 
the best served. The young at length launch out into the 
marshes for themselves in quest of insects ; while thus en- 
gaged, at the warning voice of their parents, or the approach 
of an enemy, they instantly squat down, and remain motionless 
until the danger be over. As soon as the young are able to 
fly, they are led by the old to the sand shoals and ripples 
where fish are abundant, and occasionally feeding them, they 
learn by example to provide for themselves. 
