Dehetre Su. BcOeNe 2 Bs Ui hel N 11 
for the sandy bars with little cover; however, they like to have cover close 
by. For this they seem to prefer weeds and other low vegetation that will 
furnish suitable cover during the hot weather and for concealment. The 
nests are placed sometimes very close together, and hundreds of birds will 
nest on a small sandy bar. If the earth is right the birds seem to build 
little in the way of a nest. They will hollow out a place in the sand and 
sometimes put a few little sticks or a stone or two in the nest. At other 
times one will find nests that are quite substantially built and of con- 
siderable size. 
Three eggs usually comprise a setting; however, sometimes there will 
be only two, and sometimes four are found. The base color of the eggs 
varies from a chalky white to cream and tan, and once in a while they 
will be greenish or bluish in color. In all cases the eggs are spotted with 
brown. The adults are very attentive to their responsibilities while nest- 
ing, with the female usually on the nest. The male bird will come in from 
time to time and bring food to the female. At times with no apparent 
reason most of the birds in the colony will leave their nests and fly in 
flocks, circling the island for a little while, then come back and settle down 
on the nests again. The young birds frequently leave the nests two or 
three days after they are hatched and come to the nest only when the 
adult comes in to feed them. I have found adults sitting on one or two 
eggs with a chick or two hiding under weeds near by. Very seldom have 
I found chicks of any size that will stay in the nest. One often wonders 
how the adult birds keep track of their own chicks with sometimes 
hundreds in the immediate vicinity. 
Mr. C. G. Manuel, who spent one month each year for a three year 
period on Lone Tree Island studying the life cycle of the common tern, 
said that not over five percent of their food is of any value to mankind. 
After studying the contents of the stomachs of hundreds of birds, he states 
that most of the food was surface shiners. Other authors writing about 
the common tern on the Atlantic coast state that not any of the food of 
the common tern is of value to man. 
In studying the family life of the tern Manuel placed a small fence 
about four inches in height around one nest and chick, then crawled into 
a victrola box with a hole in the end of it to see what happened. Both 
adult birds came in, one of them carrying a minnow. After surveying 
the scene a little, it gave the minnow to the chick tail end first, but it could 
not swallow it. The old bird took the minnow and turned it end for end, 
but still the young chick could not swallow it. The other old bird watching 
the proceedings walked over, took the minnow and flew out to the water, 
and, after getting the minnow thoroughly wet, came back and gave it to 
the chick head end first, after which the chick had no trouble swallowing 
it. This incident shows that birds do have a good amount of intelligence. 
In the 14 years in which we have banded common terns a total of 
21,162 have been banded. A list of the different islands and the number 
banded each year is available if any of you wish it. We have received 112 
