easy reach of many of our most frequented sea-side
resorts, and is, no doubt, still to be seen in certain
localities remote from the haunts of man. But, alas!
this bird is one of the many that the plumassiers consider
as an appropriate " set-off" for the heads of their customers,
and I have frequently been horrified at seeing the
whole skin of a Tern stuck in front of a woman's hat,
with the addition of glass eyes, generally red or yellow,
but never of the right colour; the forked tails also of
this species and of the Little Tern are very common
disfigurements to the occasionally otherwise attractive
heads of the slaves of barbarous Fashion.
The food of this Tern consists almost exclusively of
small fishes. I never noticed it in pursuit of flying
insects, which form a large part of the diet of the
Marsh-Terns, Hydrochelidon.
I have met with this species throughout the Mediterranean
and on some of the lakes of Northern Italy and
Switzerland.
