Birds and All Nature, Vol. IV, No 5, November 1898

<h2><SPAN name="THE_CASPIAN_TERN" id="THE_CASPIAN_TERN"></SPAN>THE CASPIAN TERN.</h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="verse">The Terns are on the wing,</div> <div class="verse indent-1_5">See them play!</div> <div class="verse">They dart into the sky,</div> <div class="verse">They poise, and scream, and fly</div> <div class="verse indent-1_5">O'er the bay;</div> <div class="verse">Round the ship that sails the sea,</div> <div class="verse">Round the lighthouse o'er the lea&mdash;</div> <div class="verse indent-1_5">The Terns are on the wing!</div> <div class="verse ar"><span class="sc">C. C. M.</span></div> </div></div> <div class="p2"> <ANTIMG class="drop-cap" src="images/initial_t.jpg" width-obs="58" height-obs="70" alt="" /></div> <p class="drop-cap">THE great Caspian Tern is the largest of the family, its wings, when extended, measuring from fifty to fifty-five inches in length. It is a bird of very irregular distribution, breeding in Labrador, along the Arctic coast, on islands in Lake Michigan, on the coasts of Virginia, Texas, and California, and is numerous in Australia. Forbes found it to be more or less common about Washoe Lake and the Humboldt Marshes, Nevada, and the Great Salt Lake, Utah, where it was no doubt breeding. He says that unlike most other Terns, particularly unlike the almost equally large Royal Tern, the Caspian appears to breed in isolated pairs instead of large colonies, its nest being found far removed from that of any other bird, and consisting merely of a shallow depression scooped in the sand, in which its two eggs are laid, with little if any lining, though a few grass or sedge blades or other vegetable substance are sometimes added. It is very bold in defense of its eggs or young, darting impetuously at the intruder, uttering meanwhile hoarse barking or snarling cries.</p> <p>This elegant and graceful bird is also known as the Imperial Tern. At a distance it is often mistaken for the Royal Tern, but may be distinguished from the latter by its more robust form and less deeply forked tail. Eggs and young have been taken on Cobb's Island, Virginia, in July. Dr. Merrill observed it breeding on Padre Island, near Fort Brown, Texas, in May. Large numbers of this species are said to breed on Pelican Island in the Gulf of Mexico. The eggs vary from white to greenish-buff, spotted and blotched with brown and lilac of different shades.</p> <p>The Terns furnish abundant interest while flying. They seem always to be on the wing, and always hungry. Like the Gulls, they seize their food by darting upon it, tossing it into the air and catching it again, without alighting. They pick up from the surface of the water floating objects. They swim on the surface, rarely diving deep. They dart also upon fish from above, and "one plows the water in flight with a knifelike beak in hopes of running through a shoal of fishes."</p> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</SPAN></span></p> <table class="sp2 mc w50" title="CASPIAN TERN." summary="CASPIAN TERN."> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="3"><span class="ac w100 figcenter"> <SPAN name="i_060.jpg" id="i_060.jpg"> <ANTIMG style="width:100%" src="images/i_060.jpg" width="600" height="446" alt="" /></SPAN></span> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="xx-smaller ac w30">From col. F. M. Woodruff.</td> <td class="x-smaller ac w40">CASPIAN TERN.<br/> &#8531; Life-size.</td> <td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Copyright by<br/> Nature Study Pub. Co., 1898, Chicago.</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="x-smaller ac w30">&nbsp;</td> <td class="xx-smaller ac w40">CHICAGO COLORTYPE CO., CHIC. &amp; NEW YORK.</td> <td class="x-smaller ac w30">&nbsp;</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr class="chap" /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</SPAN></span></p> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />