LESSER TERN. 
371 
primary quill-feathers are generally dark on their inner edges. 
The female differs in having the two exterior feathers of the 
tail considerably shorter. The voice of these birds is like the 
harsh jarring of an opening door, rusted on its hinges. The 
bone of the skull is remarkably thick and strong, as also the 
membrane that surrounds the brain ; in this respect resembling 
the Woodpecker’s. In both, this provision is doubtless 
intended to enable the birds to support, without injury, the 
violent concussions caused by the plunging of the one, and the 
chiselling of the other. 
LESSER TERN. — STERNA MINUTA. — Plate LX. Fig. 2. 
Aret. Zool. No. 449 La petite Hirondelle de mer, Buff. viii. 337. PI. enl. 996 
Bewick , ii. 183. — Peak's Museum , No. 3505. 
STERNA MINUTA. — LiNNiEUS.* 
Sterna ininuta, Bonap. Synop. — Flem. Br. Zool. p. 144. — Temm. Man. d' Orn . 
ii. p. 75. 
This beautiful little species looks like the preceding in 
miniature, but surpasses it far in the rich glossy satin-like 
white plumage with which its throat, breast, and whole lower 
parts are covered. Like the former, it is also a bird of passage, 
but is said not to extend its migrations to so high a northern 
latitude, being more delicate and susceptible of cold. It arrives 
on the coast somewhat later than the other, but in equal and 
* This species is common to Europe and the northern continent of America. 
Bonaparte mentions another closely allied species, which appears to take its 
place in South America, and has been confounded with it. 
The breeding places of this Tern are somewhat different from many of 
those British species with which we are acquainted. Most of the latter 
breed on rocky coasts and solitary islands, while the little Tern prefers flat 
shingly beaches, where the eggs are deposited in the manner described by 
Wilson, — in some little hollow or footstep. They become clamorous on 
approaching the nest, but seem hardly so familiar or bold as most of the others. 
The young soon leave the hollow where they were hatched, and move about as 
far as their limited powers will allow Ed. 
