leaving my hiding place, slowly, and as silently as possible, proceeded
toward the nearest islet on which I knew a nest to be, having the
evening before, to mark the precise spot, broken some of the weeds,
which were now withered by the heat of the sun. You, good Reader, will
not, I am sure, think me prolix; but as some less considerate persons
may allege that I am tediously so, I must tell them here that no
student of Nature ever was, or ever can be, too particular while thus
marking the precise situation of a bird’s nest. Indeed, I myself have
lost many nests by being less attentive. After this short but valuable
lecture, you and I will do our best to approach the sitting bird unseen
by it. Although a person can advance but slowly when wading through mud
and water knee-deep, it does not take much time to get over forty or
fifty yards, and thus I was soon on the small island where the Avoset
was comfortably seated on her nest. Softly and on all four I crawled
toward the spot, panting with heat and anxiety. Now, Reader, I am
actually within three feet of the unheeding creature, peeping at her
through the tall grasses. Lovely bird! how innocent, how unsuspecting,
and yet how near to thine enemy, albeit he be an admirer of thy race!
There she sits on her eggs, her head almost mournfully sunk among
the plumage, and her eyes, unanimated by the sight of her mate, half
closed, as if she dreamed of future scenes. Her legs are bent beneath
her in the usual manner. I have seen this, and I am content. Now she
observes me, poor thing, and off she scrambles,—running, tumbling,
and at last rising on wing, emitting her clicking notes of grief and
anxiety, which none but an inconsiderate or callous-hearted person
could hear without sympathizing with her.
The alarm is sounded, the disturbed bird is floundering hither and
thither over the pool, now lying on the surface as if ready to die,
now limping to induce me to pursue her and abandon her eggs. Alas, poor
bird! Until that day I was not aware that gregarious birds, on emitting
cries of alarm, after having been scared from their nest, could induce
other incubating individuals to leave their eggs also, and join in
attempting to save the colony. But so it was with the Avosets, and the
other two sitters immediately rose on wing and flew directly at me,
while the one with the four younglings betook herself to the water, and
waded quickly off, followed by her brood, which paddled along swimming,
to my astonishment, as well as ducklings of the same size.
How far such cries as those of the Avoset may be heard by birds of
the same species I cannot tell; but this I know, that the individuals
which had gone toward the Wabash reappeared in a few minutes after I
had disturbed the first bird, and hovered over me. But now, having, as
I thought, obtained all desirable knowledge of these birds, I shot down
five of them, among which I unfortunately found three females.
The nests were placed among the tallest grasses, and were entirely
composed of the same materials, but dried, and apparently of a former
year’s growth. There was not a twig of any kind about them. The inner
nest was about five inches in diameter, and lined with fine prairie
grass, different from that found on the islets of the pond, and about
two inches in depth, over a bed having a thickness of an inch and a
half. The islets did not seem to be liable to inundation, and none
of the nests exhibited any appearance of having been increased in
elevation since the commencement of incubation, as was the case with
those described by WILSON. Like those of most waders, the eggs were
four in number, and placed with the small ends together. They measured
two inches in length, one inch and three-eighths in their greatest
breadth, and were, exactly as WILSON tells us, “of a dull olive colour,
marked with large irregular blotches of black, and with others of a
fainter tint.” To this I have to add, that they are pear-shaped and
smooth. As to the time of hatching, I know nothing.
Having made my notes, and picked up the dead birds, I carefully waded
through the rushes three times around the whole pond, but, being
without my dog, failed in discovering the young brood or their mother.
I visited the place twice the following day, again waded round the
pond, and searched all the islets, but without success: not a single
Avoset was to be seen; and I am persuaded that the mother of the four
younglings had removed them elsewhere.
Since that time my opportunities of meeting with the American Avoset
have been few. On the 7th of November 1819, while searching for rare
birds a few miles from New Orleans, I shot one which I found by itself
on the margin of Bayou St John. It was a young male, of which I merely
took the measurements and description. It was very thin, and had
probably been unable to proceed farther south. Its stomach contained
only two small fresh-water snails and a bit of stone. In May 1829,
I saw three of these birds at Great Egg Harbour, but found no nests,
although those of the Long-legged Avoset of WILSON were not uncommon.
My friend JOHN BACHMAN considers them as rare in South Carolina, where,
however, he has occasionally seen some on the gravelly shores of the
sea islands.
On the 16th of April 1837, my good friend Captain NAPOLEON COSTE, of
the United States Revenue Cutter the Campbell, on board of which I then
was, shot three individuals of this species on an immense sand-bar,
intersected by pools, about twelve miles from Derniere Island on the
Gulf of Mexico, and brought them to me in perfect order. They were
larger, and perhaps handsomer, than any that I have seen; and had been
killed out of a flock of five while feeding. He saw several large
flocks on the same grounds, and assured me that the only note they
emitted was a single whistle. He also observed their manner of feeding,
which he represented as similar to that described above.
My friend THOMAS NUTTALL says in a note, that he “found this species
breeding on the islands of shallow ponds throughout the Rocky Mountains
about midsummer. They exhibited great fear and clamour at the approach
of the party, but no nests were found, they being then under march.”
Dr RICHARDSON states, that it is abundant on the Saskatchewan Plains,
where it frequents shallow lakes, and feeds on insects and small fresh
water crustacea.
The flight of the American Avoset resembles that of the _Himantopus
nigricollis_. Both these birds pass through the air as if bent on
removing to a great distance, much in the manner of the Tell-tale
Godwit, or with an easy, rather swift and continued flight, the legs
and neck fully extended. When plunging towards an intruder, it at times
comes downwards, and passes by you, with the speed of an arrow from
a bow, but usually in moving off again, it suffers its legs to hang
considerably. I have never seen one of them exhibit the bending and
tremulous motions of the legs spoken of by writers, even when raised
suddenly from the nest; and I think that I am equally safe in saying,
that the bill has never been drawn from a fresh specimen, or before
it has undergone a curvature, which it does not shew when the bird is
alive. The notes of this bird resemble the syllable _click_, sometimes
repeated in a very hurried manner, especially under alarm.
RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA, _Lath._ Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p.
787.—_Ch. Bonaparte_, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p.
394.
AMERICAN AVOSET, RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA, _Wils._ Amer.
Ornith. vol. vii. p. 126, pl. 63, fig. 2.
RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA, _Richards. and Swains._, Fauna
Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 375.
AMERICAN AVOSET, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii. p. 74.
Adult Male. Plate CCCXVIII. Fig. 1.
Bill more than twice the length of the head, very slender, much
depressed, tapering to a point, and _slightly_ recurved. Upper
mandible, with the dorsal line straight for half its length, then a
little curved upwards, and at the tip slightly decurved, the ridge
broad and flattened, the edges rather thick, the nasal groove rather
long and very narrow. Nostrils linear, basal, pervious. Lower mandible
with the angle long and very narrow, the dorsal line slightly curved
upwards, the point very slender, extremely thin and a little curved
upwards.
Head small, rounded above, rather compressed. Neck long. Body compact,
ovate. Legs very long, slender; tibia elongated, bare for half its
length, and reticulated; tarsus very long, compressed, reticulated with
hexagonal scales; toes rather short, the first extremely small; outer
toe a little longer than inner; the anterior toes connected by webs of
which the anterior margin is deeply concave, the lateral toes thickly
margined. Claws very small, compressed, rather blunt.
Plumage soft and blended. Wings long, of moderate breadth, pointed;
primaries straightish, tapering, the first longest, the rest rapidly
graduated; secondaries broad, incurved, the outer rounded, the rest
becoming pointed, the inner elongated and tapering. Tail short, even,
of twelve rather narrow, rounded feathers.
Bill black. Iris bright carmine. Feet light blue, webs flesh-coloured
towards their edges, claws black. Head, neck, and fore part of breast,
reddish-buff, the parts around the base of the bill and the eye,
nearly white. The back is white; but on its fore part is a longitudinal
band of brownish-black elongated feathers on each side, and the inner
scapulars are of the same colour, the outer and the anterior edge of
the wing being white. The wing brownish-black, with a broad band of
white formed by the tips of the secondary coverts, four of the inner
secondaries, and the basal part, with the inner webs and outer edges of
the rest. The under parts white, excepting some of the primary quills
and some of their coverts, which are greyish-brown.
Length to end of tail 18 inches, to end of wings 18-1/2, to end of
claws 23-1/2 extent of wings 30-5/8; wing from flexure 9-1/2; tail
3-1/2; bill along the ridge 3-3/4; bare part of the tibia 2-3/12;
tarsus 3-5/8; hind toe and claw 3/12; middle toe and claw 1-10/12;
breadth of foot extended 2-5/8. Weight 16-3/4 oz.
The Female is similar to the male, but somewhat smaller.
Young in winter. Plate CCCXVIII. Fig. 2.
The young in winter is similar to the adult, but with the head and neck
white, the dark colours of a browner tint.
Length to end of tail 18 inches, to end of wings 18-1/2; extent of
wings 30-1/2. Weight 13 oz.
In structure the Avosets are similar to the Numenii and Totani. In an
adult female the tongue is very short in proportion to the length of
the bill, being only 1-3/4 inch long, slightly emarginate at the base
with a few conical papillæ, slender, tapering to a point, horny on the
back, and flattened above. On the palate are two longitudinal series
of blunt papillæ. The posterior aperture of the nares is linear, 10
twelfths long, papillate on the edges. The œsophagus is 7 inches and
9 twelfths long, inclines to the right side, and when the neck is bent
becomes posterior at the middle, as in the Herons and other long-necked
birds; its diameter 5 twelfths at the upper part, dilated to 8 twelfths
previous to its entrance into the thorax. The proventriculus is 1 inch
long and 7 twelfths in diameter; its glandules cylindrical, 1 twelfth
long. The stomach is a gizzard of moderate strength, oblong, 1-1/2 inch
in length, 10 twelfths in breadth, its right lateral muscle 4 twelfths
thick. Its contents were remains of small shells. Its inner membrane
of moderate thickness, hard, longitudinally rugous, and deeply tinged
with red. The intestine is 3 feet long, and 4 twelfths in diameter; the
rectum 2 inches long; of the cœca one is 2-3/4 inches long, the other
2-1/4, their diameter 2 twelfths.
In another individual the intestine is 3 feet 9 inches long; one of
the cœca 2-3/4 inches, the other 3; the stomach 1-1/2 by 1-1/12. Its
contents small shell-fish and fragments of quartz.
The trachea is 6-1/2 inches long; its rings extremely thin and
unossified, 140 in number, its diameter 3-1/4 twelfths, nearly uniform
throughout, but rather narrower in the middle. The lateral muscles are
very thin. The bronchi are short, of about 10 rings.
LEAST TERN.
_STERNA MINUTA_, LINN.
PLATE CCCXIX. ADULT AND YOUNG.
Sylph-like bird of the waters, how delightful has it been to me to gaze
on thy gliding movements, on the fannings of thy gentle wings, on the
delicate silvery glance of thy soft and sattiny bosom, as thou camest
from distant and unknown shores, when the winter had passed away, and
the mild breezes of early summer blew around thee, and thou soughtest
a place of safety in which to sojourn for a time. That frail frame of
thine must have suffered many a hardship. Fronting that last damp and
chilling blast, I have seen thee gathering up all thy little strength
to force thy way; and when the fury of the tempest assailed thee,
wert thou not glad to seek for refuge under yon bold headland! Ah,
deny it not, for I have seen the delight expressed by thee, when after
awhile, returning calm and sunshine revived thee, and thou spreadest
thy wings anew, to ramble gaily over the still turbulent waters. Well
knowest thou, heaven-taught, each bar and shallow along the desolate
shore which thou skirtest pilotless; soon shalt thou reach the haven
where last summer smiled on thee and thy brood; and there shalt thou
gracefully alight by the side of one whose love is all to thee.
As no account of this species exists in the Fauna Boreali-Americana,
it is to be supposed that it is not met with beyond the western shores
of Labrador, where however I found it in abundance and breeding, in
the beginning of June 1833. On the 14th of August following I observed
them at Newfoundland, moving southward in detached parties of old and
young, against a strong breeze, and uttering their clamorous cries.
Again, in the end of April 1837, hundreds of pairs were breeding on
the islands of Galveston Bay in Texas, the numerous specimens which I
then examined exhibiting no difference from those obtained in Labrador
and in our Middle Districts. Nay, once, in the middle of June, while
wading through the quick-sands of Bayou Sara in Louisiana, I came to a
high and dry sand-bar where I picked up several eggs belonging to three
pairs of birds of this species, although the distance was about two
hundred miles from the sea in a direct line. I have at various times
observed this Tern on the waters of the Ohio in autumn, and now and
then in spring, at the latter period in company with the Short-tailed
Tern, _Sterna nigra_, and have again met with it on the shores of
Lake Erie. I have also found it in winter on the eastern coast of the
Floridas, but in small numbers. Few birds indeed seem to me to be so
irregular in their migratory movements, for they appear to stop at any
convenient breeding place from Texas to Labrador.
This species in some of its habits resembles the Marsh Tern, of
WILSON, which I feel certain is the _Sterna anglica_ of MONTAGU. The
resemblance is especially manifest in the peculiar manner in which
it seizes insects while on wing over the pools of salt marshes and
elsewhere, where it is fond of rambling whenever the weather is at
all fine or pleasantly warm. It then plunges toward the ground or the
water, and, like a true Flycatcher, snatches its prey unawares from the
tops of the grasses, or whilst flying over the shallow green-mantled
pools.
Few birds are more gentle than this delicate species is at times; for,
apparently unaware of danger from the vicinity of man, it allows him to
approach within a few yards, whether it be on wing or on the ground.
Indeed, in the latter case, I have seen it when gorged so reluctant
to fly off that I have more than once thought it was asleep, although
on coming up I was always disappointed in my attempts to catch it.
Nothing can exceed the lightness of the flight of this bird, which
seems to me to be among water-fowls, the analogue of the Humming-bird.
They move with great swiftness at times, at others balance themselves
like hawks over their prey, then dart with the velocity of thought to
procure the tiny fry beneath the surface of the waters. When you invade
their breeding place, they will sometimes sweep far away, and suddenly
return, coming so near as almost to strike you. While travelling, their
light but firm flight is wonderfully sustained; and on hearing and
seeing them on such occasions, one is tempted to believe them to be the
happiest of the happy. They seem as if marshalled and proceeding to a
merry-making, so gaily do they dance along, as if to the music of their
own lively cries. Now you see the whole group suddenly check their
onward speed, hover over a deep eddy supplied with numberless shrimps,
and dash headlong on their prey. Up rises the little thing with the
shrimp in its bill, and again down it plunges; and its movements are
so light and graceful that you look on with pleasure, and are in no
haste to depart. Should this scene be enacted while they have young in
their company, the latter await in the air the rise of their parents,
meet them, and receive the food from them. When all are satiated,
they proceed on their journey, stopping at another similar but distant
place.
Although along our Southern and Middle Districts, the Least Tern merely
scoops a very slight hollow in which to deposit its eggs, doing this
from the first of April to the first of June, according to the latitude
of the place, those which I found breeding on the coast of Labrador
had formed very snug nests, composed of short fragments of dry moss,
well matted together, and nearly of the size of that of the American
Robin, _Turdus migratorius_; while those met with on the islands near
the Bay of Galveston, were observed to have laid their eggs upon the
dry drifted weeds which appeared to have been gathered by them for the
purpose. The nests are generally placed out of reach of the tides, but
on some occasions I have known the hopes of a whole colony destroyed by
the sudden overflow of their selected places caused by a severe gale,
and have observed that, on such occasions, their clamour was as great
as if they had been robbed of their eggs by man.
The number of eggs deposited by this species is more frequently three
than four. Like those of most other Terns, they differ somewhat in size
and markings, although I never found any so large as those described by
WILSON, who states that they measure nearly an inch and three quarters
in length, which would better agree with the eggs of the Common Tern.
The average of a basketful was found to be one inch and two and a half
eighths in length, by seven and a half eighths in breadth. They are
rather pointed at the smaller end, and their ground colour is pale
yellowish-white, blotched with irregular dark brown spots, intermixed
with others of a dull purplish tint.
I have found this Tern breeding among Shearwaters along the Florida
coast; and my friend the Reverend JOHN BACHMAN has observed the same
circumstance on the “Bird’s Banks,” on the coasts of South Carolina,
where it is abundant, as well as on Sullivan Island.
The common note of our Least Tern resembles that of the Barn Swallow
when disturbed about its nest, being as smartly and rapidly repeated at
times. When it proves convenient for it to alight on the ground or on
a sand-beach, after it has secured a prawn or small fish, it does so,
and there devours its prey piecemeal, but it more usually swallows it
on wing. On the ground it walks prettily, with short steps, keeping its
tail somewhat raised.
STERNA MINUTA, _Linn._ Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 228.—_Lath._
Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 809.—_Ch. Bonaparte_, Synopsis of
Birds of United States, p. 355.
LESSER TERN, STERNA MINUTA, _Wils._ Amer. Ornith. vol. vii.
p. 80, pl. 60, fig. 2.
SILVERY TERN, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii. p. 280.
Adult Male. Plate CCCXIX. Fig. 1.
Bill about the length of the head, slender, tapering, much compressed,
nearly straight, extremely attenuated towards the end. Upper mandible
with the dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge rather broad and convex
at the base, narrow towards the end, the sides nearly erect, the edges
sharp and direct. Nasal groove short, extending to a fourth of the
length of the bill; nostrils basal, linear, direct, pervious. Lower
mandible with the angle extremely narrow, very acute, extending to the
middle, the dorsal line straightish, the sides erect, the edges sharp
and inflected, the tip extremely acute.
Head of moderate size, ovate; neck short; body very slender; feet
small. Tibia bare below; tarsus very short, slender, compressed,
covered anteriorly with small scutella, laterally and behind with
reticular scales; toes small, slender, the first extremely small, the
third longest, the fourth considerably shorter, all scutellate above,
the anterior united by reticulated webs having a deeply concave margin.
Claws arched, compressed, acute, that of hind toe smallest, of middle
toe by much the largest, and having its inner edge thin and dilated.
Plumage soft, close, blended, very short on the fore part of the head;
the feathers in general broad and rounded. Wings very long, narrow, and
pointed; primary quills tapering, straight, the first longest, the next
five-twelfths of an inch shorter, the rest rapidly graduated; secondary
quills short, broad, incurved, narrowed towards the end, the inner
straight. Tail rather long, very deeply forked, the lateral feathers
extending an inch and seven-twelfths beyond the fork.
Bill light yellowish-orange, its tips black, but the extreme points
horn-colour. Iris hazel; feet light orange-red, the bare part of the
tibia dusky; claws black. On the forehead, a triangular white patch
extending to the middle of the eye; upper part of the head and the
nape, with a line from the eye to the bill, deep black; sides of the
head, fore-neck and lower parts, pure white; back and wings very pale
bluish-grey; first two quills with the outer web greyish-black, and
rather less than half of their inner web of the same colour, the rest
white, extending to about half an inch from their extremities. Tail
white in summer, of a paler tint than the back at other times.
Length to end of tail 8-3/4 inches, to end of wings 9-1/2, to end
of claws 7-1/2, to end of shortest tail-feathers 7; extent of wings
18-3/4; wing from flexure 6-11/12; tail 3-1/2; bill along the ridge
7-1/2 twelfths, along the edge of lower mandible 1-5/12; tarsus 7/12;
middle toe 7/12, its claw 5/12.
The Female is a little smaller than the male, but otherwise similar.
Young fledged. Plate CCCXIX. Fig. 2.
Bill greenish-black. Iris dusky. Feet pale yellowish-orange. All the
under parts dull greyish-white, as are the upper parts including the
tail; the hind part of the head streaked with dusky, on the back and
rump the feathers with a curved marginal band of greyish-brown; primary
quills greyish-brown, the outer two darker. At this period the tail is
even, each feather narrowly margined with greyish-white.
In a male bird the tongue is 10 twelfths long, slender, triangular,
tapering to a point, horny beneath, emarginate and papillate at
the base. On the palate are five longitudinal ridges. The posterior
aperture of the nares is linear, 7 twelfths long. The œsophagus is 4
inches 2 twelfths long, very wide, its average diameter on the neck
4-1/2 twelfths, within the thorax 9 twelfths; it is exceedingly thin
and delicate, its muscular fibres scarcely apparent, unless closely
examined. The proventriculus is only a quarter of an inch long. The
stomach is 9 twelfths long, 8 twelfths broad, its lateral muscles of
considerable size, the cuticular lining dense, tough, longitudinally
rugous, and of a reddish-brown colour, as in gulls. Contents of stomach
and œsophagus, small fishes, one of them 2 inches long. The intestine
is 14 inches long, its diameter 1-1/2 twelfths. The cœca are 2 twelfths
long, nearly 1 twelfth in diameter.
The trachea is 2 inches and 4 twelfths long, its diameter 2 twelfths at
the top, diminishing to 1 twelfth; its rings about 105, unossified; its
lateral muscles moderate, as are the sterno-tracheal, and single pair
of inferior laryngeal. The bronchial half-rings about 25.