226 
SWIMMERS. 
and fry, hovering, suspended in the air, for a moment over 
their prey, like so many small Hawks, and with equal prompt- 
ness dash headlong into the water after it, seizing it with the 
bill, as the feet are incapable of prehension. The Silvery Tern 
sometimes makes extensive incursions along the river courses, 
and has been shot several hundred miles from the sea, its 
principal place of residence. 
In the latter end of May or beginning of June the female 
commences laying. The eggs are merely deposited in a slight 
scratch in the sand, and left to hatch in the heat of the sun ; 
the bird, as usual, sitting on them only during the night and 
in wet and stormy weather. On approaching their breeding- 
places the old birds assemble in crowds around the intruder, 
and after a good deal of vociferation, flying round in wide cir- 
cuits, they often approach within a few yards of one’s head, 
squeaking almost like so many young pigs, and appear to be 
very irritable and resentful. At other times, when not excited 
or alarmed, they are tame and unsuspicious, particularly the 
young birds, often heedlessly passing the spectator within a 
few yards while tracing the windings of the shore in quest of 
their prey. 
This is a bird of the tropical and warm-temperate regions, breed- 
ing chiefly from the Middle States southward, and wintering in 
Central America. The Nantucket Islands were a favorite resort 
some years ago, but few examples are found there now. Occasion- 
ally stragglers wander along the coast as far as Labrador, and a 
few have been seen on the Great Lakes. 
