GREAT TERN. 
153 
248 . STERNA HIRUNDO , LINNAEUS. — GREAT TERN. 
WILSON, PLATE LX. FIG. I. EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 
This bird belongs to a tribe very generally dispersed 
over the shores of the ocean. Their generic characters 
are these : — Bill, straight, sharp pointed, a little com- 
pressed and strong ; nostrils, linear ; tongue, slender, 
pointed ; legs, short ; feet, webbed ; hind toe and its 
nail, straight; wings, long; tail, generally forked. 
Turton enumerates twenty-live species of this genus, 
scattered over various quarters of the world ; six of 
which, at least, are natives of the United States. From 
their long pointed wings, they are generally known to 
seafaring people and others residing near the sea-shore 
by the name of sea swallows ; though some few, from 
their near resemblance, are confounded with the gulls. 
The present species, or great tern, is common to the 
shores of Europe, Asia, and America. It arrives on 
the coast of New Jersey about the middle ‘ or 20th of 
April, led, no doubt, by the multitudes of fish which at 
that season visit our shallow bays and inlets. By many 
it is called the sheep’s-head gull, from arriving about 
the same time with the fish of that name. 
About the middle or 20th of May this bird commences 
laying. The preparation of a nest, which costs most 
other birds so much time and ingenuity, is here 
altogether dispensed with. The eggs, generally three 
in number, are placed on the surface of the dry drift 
grass, on the beach or salt marsh, and covered by the 
female only during the night, or in wet, raw, or stormy 
weather. At all other times the hatching of them is 
left to the heat of the sun. These eggs measure an 
inch and three-quarters in length, by about an inch and 
two-tenths in width, and are of a yellowish dun colour, 
sprinkled with dark brown and pale Indian ink. Not- 
withstanding they seem thus negligently abandoned 
during the day, it is very different in reality. One or 
both of the parents are generally fishing within view of 
