480 
SOOTY TERN. 
HABITS. 
The Least Terns differ somewhat in flight from the larger species, moving with a rath¬ 
er jerking motion which is not very graceful. Their notes are shrill, quite short, and ab¬ 
ruptly given, especially when the birds are disturbed. They place the eggs on the naked 
sand, preferring, as breeding places, sandy beaches which are without a vestige of grass or 
other vegetation. I procured eggs of the Least Tern on the Florida Keys, early in May 
but these birds do not nest on our New England coast until about the tenth of July. They 
are expert at fishing, catching young mackerel and other small fish, and may frequently 
be seen carrying their prey crosswise in their beaks, as they fly to their breeding grounds. 
In being solicitous for the safety of their eggs, and in hovering about a dead or wounded 
companion, they do not differ from other Terns, and may, like them, be decoyed within 
shooting distance by waving a white handkerchief, at the same time imitating their cries. 
STERNA FULIGINOSA. 
Sooty Tern. 
Sternafuliginosa Gm., Syst. Hat., I; 1788, 605. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Cn. Size, large. Form, slender. Bill, rather slender. Color. Adult. Above, black. Lunate spot on top of 
head, outer webs of the tail and basal half of inner, and under pa,rts, white. Iris, brown, bill and feet, black. Young. 
Brownish throughout, paler beneath, with the feathers more or less edged with white and rufous. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Known by the large size, dark color above, and white lunet on head. Distributed as a constant resident on the Flori¬ 
da Keys and Bahamas. Accidental further north. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of specimens from Florida. Length, 16*00; stretch, 34*00; wing, 11*50; tail, 7*£5; bill, 1*62; 
tarsus, 1*05. Longest specimen, 17*00; greatest extent of wing, 35*00; longest wing, 12*00; tail, 7*50; bill, 1*75; tarsus, 
1*10. Shortest specimen, 15*00; smallest extent of wing, 33*00; shortest wing, 11*00; tail, 7*00; bill, 1*50; tarsus, 1*00. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Eggs, placed on the ground in sandy places, two or three in number, oval in form, pinkish white in color, spotted and 
blotched with reddish-brown and lilac. Dimensions from 1*45x 1*95 to 1*50 x2*00. 
HABITS. 
The Sooty Terns are now only found in any numbers on the small islands which lie to 
the southward of Key West and which are known as the Dry Tortugas. Here they breed 
on Bird Key which is about four miles from Fort Jefferson, depositing their eggs early in 
May. The birds are extremely tame when nesting, insomuch so, that they may be killed 
with sticks or even caught with the hand, and they deposit the eggs on the naked sand. 
There were thousands of these birds on this little key, in 1874, but as the soldiers of Fort 
Jefferson had been in the habit of taking the eggs regularly every other day, but few or no 
young were raised. The officer who had command of the post, prohibited shooting the birds 
on the island, but the continual robbing of the eggs must ultimately drive the Sooty Terns 
from this breeding ground. It is difficult to find a nesting site of either Terns or Gulls, 
from Grand Menan to Florida, where the birds are not subject to systematic pillage, not by 
scientific collectors but by fishermen and others, who simply want the eggs as an article of 
diet, with which they could dispense without the slightest inconvenience; and as I have 
had occasion to remark many times before, in other places, unless the General Government 
interposes stringent laws for the protection of this class of birds, there will not be one left, 
where there are thousands now, but where there were once millions. 
