52. Nesting site, nest, and three eggs of Common Tern. A nearer view of nest with sitting bird is shown in Nos. 63 and 64.
The birds were nesting on the upland, on the sloping grass bank, on the northwest side of the island, and on the rocky beach[52] at its base. In the two first-named locations most of the nests were lined with grasses, but occasionally they consisted of only a slight, bared depression in the earth; while the eggs along the beach were, as a rule, deposited on wisps or piles of driftweed. There were perhaps six or eight Roseate Terns, the others were apparently all Common Terns, but as I am unfamiliar with the very similar Arctic Tern, it is possible that this species may have been present.
53. Tern hovering above nest.
A Tern colony is in some respects a unit. The alarm of one bird is shared by all, and before the boat’s keel grated on the sandy beach of the largest Weepecket, the snowy-breasted birds, which in a group were resting there, had taken flight, and with their singular call told all the other Terns on the island of my invasion. At once the birds gathered and, hanging in a flock overhead, protested most vigorously against my intrusion with their purring, vibrant te-a-r-r-r. This cry never ceases so long as one remains near their home; it rings in the ears for days afterward, and one need only to recall it to form a clear mental picture of a sky full of hovering Terns. Occasionally this monotone was punctuated by a loud, reedy cack as a Roseate Tern dashed by, or as some half-distracted bird, whose nest was doubtless near, screaming, dived close to my head with a sudden, startling swish. It seemed almost as though the bird would pierce me with its sharply pointed bill; and if it could have managed to go through the rim of my hat without damage to either of us, I should have been very glad to have sacrificed that article of apparel to such an exhibition of bravery.
54. Nest and eggs of Tern on upland.
As I advanced I began to discover nests. Some were on the upland, snugly placed in the grass or near a large stone,[54] and with pretty surroundings of yarrow, sumach, or bending grasses; others were on the little shelves of the steep westerly bank of the islet; and others still on bits of seaweed among the pebbles and rocks which here formed the beach.[55] No attempt was made to take advantage of the concealment offered by the groups of bowlders scattered along the beach, and beneath which the birds might have hidden effectively, it being presumably their object to select a site from which they could readily detect any cause for alarm. As a rule, their nests contained one or two eggs, only a single nest being seen with three.
Although by this time birds of the year should have been on the wing, few young of any age were seen—a condition which was doubtless explained by the fact that the birds, thus far, had been too much occupied furnishing the members of boating parties with souvenirs of their day’s outing, to give attention to their own household affairs.
