LESSER TERN. 
157 
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 accidentally 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 after 
the fatigues of flight to which it is exposed. 
The lesser tern is extremely tame and unsuspicious, 
often passing you on its flight, and within a few yards, 
as it traces the windings and indentations of the shore 
in search of its favourite prawns and skippers. Indeed, 
at such times it appears either altogether heedless of 
man, or its eagerness for food overcomes its apprehen- 
sions for its own safety. We read in ancient authors, 
that the fishermen used to float a cross of wood, in the 
middle of which was fastened a small fish for a bait, 
with limed twigs stuck to the four corners, on which 
the bird darting was entangled by the wings. But this 
must have been for mere sport, or for its feathers, the 
value of the bird being scarcely worth the trouble, as 
they are generally lean, and the flesh savouring strongly 
of fish. 
The leaser tern is met with in the south of Russia, 
and about the Black and Caspian Sea; also in Siberia 
