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THE ARCTIC TERN. 
Sterna Arctica, Temm. 
PLATE OOCOXXXYI. — Male. 
Light as a sylph, the Arctic Tern dances through the air above and around 
you. The graces, one might imagine, had taught it to perform those beau- 
tiful gambols which you see it display the moment you approach the spot 
which it has chosen for its nest. Over many a league of ocean has it passed, 
regardless of the dangers and difficulties that might deter a more considerate 
traveller. Now over some solitary green isle, a creek or an extensive bay, 
it sweeps, now over the expanse of the boundless sea ; at length it has reached 
the distant regions of the north, and amidst the floating icebergs stoops to 
pick up a shrimp. It betakes itself to the borders of a lonely sand-bank, or 
a low rocky island ; there side by side the males and the females alight, and 
congratulate each other on the happy termination of their long journey. 
Little care is required to form a cradle for their progeny ; in a short time 
the variegated eggs are deposited, the little Terns soon burst the shell, and 
in a few days hobble towards the edge of the water, as if to save their fond 
parents trouble ; feathers now sprout on their wings, and gradually invest 
their whole body ; the young birds at length rise on wing, and follow their 
friends to sea. But now the brief summer of the north is ended, dark 
clouds obscure the sun, a snow-storm advances from the polar lands, and 
before it skim the buoyant Terns, rejoicing at the prospect of returning to 
the southern regions. 
The day after our arrival at the Magdalene Islands, the weather was beau- 
tiful, although a stiff breeze blew from the south-west. I landed with my 
party at an early hour, and we felt as if at a half-way house on our journey 
from Nova Scotia to Labrador. Some of us ascended the more elevated 
parts of those interesting islands, while others walked along the shores. A 
clean sand-beach lay before us, and we proceeded over it, until having 
reached a kind of peninsula, we were brought to a stand. The Piping 
Plover ran and flew swiftly before us, emitting its soft and mellow notes, 
while some dozens of Arctic Terns were plunging into the waters, capturing 
a tiny fish or shrimp at every dash. Until that moment this Tern had 
not been familiar to me, and as I admired its easy and graceful motions, 
