Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS

THE GULLS AND THEIR ALLIES

Tern Habitat

The Terns, with the exception of the somewhat anomalous Noddies, nest often in vast colonies on the ground or on rocky ledges, occasionally, as already mentioned, on the limbs of large forest trees. The eggs, one to four in number, are placed in a slight depression, and sometimes the nests, if thev may be so dignified, are so close together that it is difficult to walk among them without stepping on eggs or young birds. In speaking of the nesting communities of the Sooty Tern (S. fuliginosa) on the Fanning Islands, Dr. Streets says that the birds”formed a cloud when they arose from the ground, and their clamor deadened the roar of the surf. They make no attempt at building a nest, but deposit their one egg anywhere on the bare ground. The eggs were almost as numerous as the clinkers on the coral beach.”The Noddies above mentioned usually nest on mangrove trees or such bushes and trees as usually grow around the borders of oceanic islands, but sometimes they nest on rocky ledges and rarely on the ground. When in trees or bushes the nests are usually bulky structures made of sticks and lined with grasses, etc.; they lay but a single egg.

Among the sixteen or eighteen species of Terns found regularly or occasionally in North America, mention may first be made of the Gull-billed Tern (Gelo-chelidon nilotica), which is nearly cosmopolitan, reaching the Atlantic coast as far north as Long Island and Massachusetts, and is fairly common on the coasts of the Southern States. It is easily distinguished from the other Terns by its especially harsh voice and heavy black bill. Of the typical Terns (Sterna) perhaps the commonest along the Atlantic coasts of North America is the Wilson's or Common Tern (5. hirundo), which formerly nested in great colonies at many points; but owing to the destruction by plume and egg hunters the numbers were sadly depleted and they seemed almost on the point of extermination, until wardens were secured on several breeding grounds, such as Gull Island, Long Island, and Muskeget off the Massachusetts coast, and by protection for a few years the colonies have been in a measure restored. This species also nests to some extent in the interior from the Gulf States to the Barren Grounds, and beyond our shores is found throughout the greater part of the Northern Hemisphere.

An allied species ranging generally over North America is Forster's Tern (S. forsteri), which is distinguished by having the inner web of the outer tail-feathers darker than the outer web, an orange-colored instead of red bill, and other characters, while even more closely related is the Arctic Tern (S. para-disaa), which may be known generally by the absence of the black tip to the otherwise red bill and grayer under parts. It is found in summer throughout the Northern Hemisphere, breeding in America from Massachusetts to the Arctic regions, and strangely enough a recent Antarctic expedition has found it abundant during the northern winter (Antarctic summer) in the Weddell Sea and even south of the Antarctic Circle, thus showing a range from 820 N. to 740 S. Often associated with the Common Terns but less approachable and tame is the Roseate Tern (5. dougalli), known in summer by its pure white tail and white, delicately pinkish lower parts; it is widely spread along both coasts of the Atlantic, being one of the abundant species about the British Islands. One of the smallest species is the Least Tern (S. antillarum), which is but nine inches long, while but slightly larger is the Little Tern (S. minuta) of the Old World.

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