LESSER TERN. 
245 
the day, when her warmth is altogether unnecessary, and per- 
haps injurious, than that she should cover them only during the 
damps of night, and in wet and stormy weather; and furnishes 
another proof that the actions of birds are not the effect of mere 
blind impulse, but of volition, regulated by reason, depending 
on various incidental circumstances, to which their parental 
cares are ever awake. I lately visited those parts of the beach 
on Cape May, where this little bird breeds. The eggs, generally 
four in number, where placed on the flat sands, safe beyond the 
reach of the highest summer tide. They were of a yellowish 
brown colour, blotched with rufous, and measured nearly an 
inch and three-quarters in length. During my whole stay, these 
birds flew in crowds around me, and often within a few yards 
of my head, squeaking like so many young pigs, which their 
voice strikingly resembles. A Humming-bird, that had acci- 
dentally strayed to the place, appeared suddenly among this 
outrageous group, several of whom darted angrily at him ; but 
he shot like an arrow from them, directing his flight straight 
towards the ocean. I have no doubt but the distressing cries of 
the Terns had drawn this little creature to the scene, having 
frequently witnessed his anxious curiosity on similar occasions 
in the woods. 
The Lesser Tern feeds on beetles, crickets, spiders, and other 
insects, which it picks up from the marshes; as well as on small 
fish, on which it plunges at sea. Like the former, it also makes 
extensive incursions, inland, along the river courses, and has 
frequently been shot several hundred miles from the sea. It 
sometimes sits for hours together on the sands, as if resting af- 
ter the fatigues of flight to which it is exposed. 
The Lesser Tern is extremely tame and unsuspicious, often 
passing you in its flight, and within a few yards, as it traces the 
windings and indentations of the shore in search of it favourite 
prawns and skippers. Indeed at such times it appears either 
altogether heedless of man, or its eagerness for food overcomes 
its apprehensions for its own safety. We read in ancient au- 
thors, that the fishermen used to float a cross of wood, in the 
