MARSH TERN. 
241 
preference to lakes and rivers of the interior; and Mr. Selby states, that 
“ on the European continent it frequents the marshes and the lakes of 
Neusidel and Platten in Hungary.” The same naturalist also says : “ Upon 
investigating specimens from North America, I feel no hesitation in con- 
sidering the Marsh Tern of Wilson’s North American Ornithology to be 
the same bird, although Mr. Ord (in his eighth volume of that work) is in- 
clined to regard it as distinct, in consequence of some difference between 
the length of the bill and tarsi, as expressed in a drawing of Sterna aranea 
that he examined, and the proportions of those parts in the first species as 
given by Montagu and Temminck.” 
Now, reader, allow me to lay before you an account of the habits of the 
Marsh Tern, a figure of an adult individual selected from among three shot 
within a few hours of each other, and the measurements of several recent 
birds. You may then judge whether or not our bird is that described by 
Montagu. 
The Marsh Tern is pretty abundant about the salt-marshes of the mouths 
of the Mississippi in the beginning of April ; and by following the shores of 
the Gulf of Mexico, you will find that it comes to us from beyond Texas, 
as many make their appearance along that coast in a straggling manner 
during spring, there being seldom more than half a dozen together, and 
generally only two. Their journeys are performed over the waters of the 
sea, a few hundred yards from the shore ; and when in want of food, they 
diverge from their ordinary course, and ranging over the land satisfy their 
hunger, when they resume their route. 
Excepting the Cayenne Tern, I know no American species that has so 
powerful a flight as the present. To this power is added an elegant light- 
ness that renders it most conspicuous and pleasing during the love season. 
Then “ the happy pair” are seen to rise in elegant circling sweeps, almost 
in the manner of Hawks, and only a few feet apart, until they attain a height 
of about two hundred yards, when they come close together, and then glide 
with extended pinions through the air, the male over the female, both emit- 
ting tender and plaintive notes, while they vary their evolutions at the same 
height for five or six minutes. After this the winged lovers separate, plunge 
towards the earth with wonderful rapidity, resume their ordinary notes, and 
seek for food in concert. The usual cry of these birds is rough, sharp, dis- 
tinguishable at a considerable distance, and often repeated as if to assure each 
other that they are near. When an accident happens to the female during 
the breeding season, her mate manifests a most affectionate concern; but the 
female in such a case acts differently. On shooting several males on various 
occasions, whether they were killed outright, or fell wounded on the earth 
or the water, I observed that the female would only take a round as she rose 
Vol. YIL— 31 
