The Least Tern 
be at any stage. Fresh eggs in twos, or rarely in threes, vie in interest 
with toddling chicks, who freeze upon the instant of approach. If it is a 
windy beach, like that of Monterey, the baby’s eyes are filled with sand, 
for he executes his part unblinking. Too much sun will not do, either; 
and the infant, denied his mother’s wing, must either find shelter under a 
leaf or a bit of drift on the higher beach, or perish. 
Under ideal conditions the Least Tern may possibly raise two broods 
in a season. Ordinarily the range assigned for fresh eggs, May 20th to 
August 1st, must rather represent successive attempts, thwarted at first 
by wind or tide or depredation. 
The early history of the Least Tern in California appears to be lost 
in obscurity. Whether or not it was really abundant in the earlier days, 
we do not know. It suffered, of course, near extinction in the days of the 
plume-hunters. Since those days there has been a notable recovery, and 
it may be that through comparative protection from gun-fire, and es¬ 
pecially from the definite protection extended to it by the Bolsa Chica 
Gun Club on their properties, the species will really increase on the 
whole, in spite of disturbed beach conditions elsewhere. Mr. W. Lee 
Chambers, writing from Santa Monica in 1908, 1 reported the birds as 
decreasing sharply at Ballona Beach and at Redondo Beach, but increasing 
at Bolsa and 
Newport 
beaches. Colo¬ 
nies have been 
reported from 
the following 
localities : 
Moss Landing 
(Monterey 
Bay), Carpin- 
t e r i a (inter- 
mittent), Hue- 
neme, Playa 
Del Rey, Re¬ 
dondo, Sunset 
Beach, New¬ 
port Beach, 
and Pacific 
Beach (San 
Diego Coun- 
Taken at Sandyland. Photo by the Author 
THE SPLASH - 
THE BIRD IS, OF COURSE, EMERGING FROM A PLUNGE 
1 Condor, Vol. X., 
p. 237. 
1459 
