332 
REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS. 
that I have visited the ring-hill appears to he only a fall and winter resident, and as 
such is numerous. 
Sterna Linmeus. 
S. forsteri (Nutt.). Forster’s Tern. . . , , . 
Or Coues appears to have received an entirely erroneous impression in regaru to the 
hrSdin^ran^orthis species, and assigns the interior of British America as its sum¬ 
mer home implying in his article in Birds of the Northwest its enOre absence from 
the United States at this season, although he mtamaiw » po^bilit^of ^Iwng y 
found to nest on or along the northern tier of States. The truth is this tern is an ex 
tremely abundant summer resident of Washoe and other simiiar lakes ot Nevada and 
California east of the mountains upon which are found any considerable extent of tule 
or other marsh It lo occurs abundantly in summer in the great fresh-water marshes 
in the vicinity of Chicago, and also in Wisconsin. Upon the eastern coast its sum 1 
range is somewhat erratic, as it appears to he wanting along the New ^gjandc-t 
hnt is found at this season, in great numbers, on certain of the islands oft the snore 
Virs-inia and to the southward. Its absence farther north is, perhaps, to be accounted 
forfrom the lack of suitable localities, since the Forster’s is as much of a ^arsh-loving 
species as the black tern, in contradistinction to the Wilson s, arctic, and others, hie 
habitually frequent the open water, or, at least, avoid more the sedgy marjsbes. 
TTnoii the western lakes the Forster’s and black terns mingle fraternally to 0 ethe 
asSv condS thTir Larch for food over the hroad thl 
the shallow reedy shores. Moreover, the Forster’s tern, instead of building on rue 
open sands, has recourse to the marshes, thus still further following the habit of t 
bl TheSingle nest found by me consisted of a few bits of debris, and was placed on a 
muddy bank by the side of a ditch of running water. 
Hydrochelidon Boie. 
H. fissipes (L.). Black Tern. , . 
This species, which is a well-known inhabitant of our lakes both east and west of the 
Mississippi, makes its appearance in Nevada early in May, and by the lOtli of the 
“'AS marshes, wherever fouud 1*1 
its own but finds the matted debris of weeds a sufficient protection for its eggs, while 
Mr Nelson’s experience near Chicago was in effect that it invariably builds a s 
sta'ntial nest of its own, whatever the foundation may be. In oneXiSTforaU The 
tom of the species, wherever found, seems to be very uniform, name y, . 
pairs in a given locality to adopt the same plan, which is naturally determined by su- 
rounding circumstances. In Nevada the method of indication appears to be various, 
the nests in some neighborhoods being placed among the waving grass a abl> 
dry situation; in others, on firm tussocks; m others still on be<ls o matted tales . In 
any event the formation of a certain amount of material of thebuj 
into some sort of a nest seems in this region to be the rule. I may ^ nere so ne 
curious nesting sites selected by a large colony of these te i«;^bich had eetabhshed 
themselves in a slough that contained enough open water to foirn the> home oi 
numerous «rebes (P. auritus californicus): The nests of the grebes, from which the 
?r ng had 0 depart^d not long before, had been utilized by the terns, and hasty^Jther- 
ings of bits of dried rushes and the like had been Pl^ Jipon the baU-Jecayed 
and wholly filthy masses to receive their eggs. The utter lack of 
the terns was further exemplified in the fact that in nearly every case their own 
e>'«-s i a y in dose proximity to the rotten and abandoned eggs of the first occupants. 
!f (act! In C oS o,’ two instances the terns mast have found it diftoalt t« ™ .hate 
their own without partially covering one or more of these. At this date (July 
24) some of ”he eggs were in the advanced stages of incubation, while others ha 
been hatched. The most vociferous of the family under every-day circumstanoes, sue 
an occasion as the present is sure to call out all the bird s powers of vlfcu P? ra { [ 
tiou. The cries of the parents as they flew close down to tlie n «st8 had the desired 
effect of causing the young to hastily abandon the nests and seek she tbo 
grass. One old bird that was sitting on an egg from which the bi l ot the lmpmc * 
chick was just escaping refused to leave her charge at this critical juncture, and 
actually permitted me to approach in plain sight and take her in my ban1• h 
Fish forms an unimportant item m the bill of fare of this species, as, « “ 
of the family, it feeds in great part upon insects, which it takes in various ways, 
1U< ThtTspecies is* present in^Nevada during the latter part of August in somewhat 
diminished numbers, but in September all leave for the south. 
