The Forster Tern 
■ . . 
iV/vXAV 
- Tg 
“The young are 
beautiful little crea¬ 
tures, with a coat of 
silky down in soft 
grays and browns. 
While very young they 
somewhat resemble 
chicks, except for their 
long, sharp bills. They 
take to the water very 
readily, and their knack 
of self-concealment is 
wonderful. With nests 
on every side of us and 
a hundred screaming 
parents circling above 
our heads, an hour’s 
hard search rewarded us 
with only four young, 
although there must 
have been at least a hun¬ 
dred young ones hiding 
in the area covered by 
our search. The young, 
as soon as they can 
‘navigate’, are very ani¬ 
mated, and show an un¬ 
usual fear of an intruder. 
They are also quite pug¬ 
nacious, babies no larger than a warbler pecking at an outstretched 
finger as viciously as a young hawk.” 
Out of nesting hours the Forster Terns appear to divide their time 
about equally between fishing, hawking, and loafing. At fishing time the 
birds move about in leisurely fashion at a height of from ten to forty 
feet above the lake. The beak is carried point down like that of a mos¬ 
quito, and the bird is evidently giving close attention to the water. 
Sometimes the bird hovers to make sure of the nature of its prey; but 
oftener, without an instant’s hesitation, it plunges souse! into the water, 
sometimes passing clear from sight, and emerges a moment later with a 
wriggling minnow in its beak. When the insects are flying well, the 
Terns prefer to hawk. Dragon-flies and caddis-flies are favorite quarry, 
and in pursuit of the latter the birds will often rise to a height of several 
Taken in Merced County 
Photo by the Author 
AT THE END OF A SWOOP 
H47 
