Audubon's Birds/BIRDSVER1_3.BIN/dp/0071/00714.txt

Text File | 1992-08-27 | 16KB | 242 lines

$Unique_ID{BRD00714}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{The Cayenne Tern}
$Subject{Larinae; Sterna; Cayana; maxima; Cayenne Tern; Royal Tern}
$Journal{Birds of America:  Volume VII}
$Volume{Vol. 7:76-81}
$Family{Larinae}
$Genus{Sterna}
$Species{Cayana; maxima}
$Common_Name{Cayenne Tern; Royal Tern}
$Log{
Plate CCCCXXIX*00714P1.scf
Family*00710.txt
Genus*00713.txt
}

       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       B I R D S   O F   A M E R I C A .

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.

                   ------------------------------------------
                                   VOL.  VII.
                        --------------------------------


                                THE CAYENNE TERN
                                 [Royal Tern.]


                              STERNA CAYANA, Lath.
                                [Sterna maxima.]


                             PLATE CCCCXXIX.--MALE.


     On reaching the entrance of the little port of St. Augustine in East
Florida, I observed more Cayenne Terns together than I had ever before seen.  I
had afterwards good opportunities of watching them both during that season and
the following, about the Keys.  Their shyness surprised me not a little,
especially as they are very seldom molested, and it was such that I could study
their habits only with the aid of a good glass.  I found them at first in great
flocks, composed of several hundred individuals, along with Razor-billed
Shearwaters, which also congregated there in great numbers.  During low water,
both species resorted to a large flat sand-bar in the middle of the channel,
where they reposed until the return of the tide, sitting close together, in an
easy posture, with their heads facing the breeze.  They kept separate, however,
placing themselves in parallel lines twenty or thirty paces asunder, and either
lay flat on the sand, or stood up and plumed themselves.  My attempts to procure
some of them were always futile, for they flew off when I was yet several
hundred yards distant, and moved directly towards the sea.  It was pleasing to
see the whole of these birds take to wing at the same moment, the jetty hue of
the Shearwaters contrasting with the pale blue of the Terns, and the
brilliantly-coloured bills of both species, their different modes of flight, and
their various evolutions presenting a most agreeable sight.  The Terns on these
occasions constantly emitted their harsh loud cries, while the Shearwaters moved
in perfect silence.  After spending several days in unsuccessful endeavours to
approach them, I employed several boats, which advanced towards the sands at
several points, and we shot as many as we wished, for as the flocks passed over
any of the boats, several individuals were brought down at once, on which the
rest would assail the gunners, as if determined to rescue their brethren, and
thus afford subjects for them on which to exercise their skill.  We found it
necessary to use large shot, the Cayenne Tern being a strong and tough bird, the
largest of the genus met with on our Atlantic coasts.  When wounded, however
slightly, they disgorged in the manner of Vultures; and when brought to the
water disabled, they at once endeavoured to make off from the shores, swimming
with buoyancy and grace, though without making much progress.  When seized they
at once erected their beautiful crest, threw up the contents of their stomach,
uttered loud cries, and bit severely.  One that was merely touched in the wing,
and brought ashore, through a high surf, by my Newfoundland dog, stuck fast to
his nose until forced to relinquish its hold by having its throat squeezed,
after which it disgorged seven partially digested fishes.
     Although the Cayenne Tern often searches for food over the sea, and at
times several miles from the shore, it gives a decided preference to the large
inlets running parallel to the coast of the Floridas, within the high sandy
embankments, as well as the rivers in the interior of the peninsula.  They
alight on the banks of racoon oysters, so abundant in the inlets, and are seen
in company with the Semipalmated Snipe and the American Oystercatcher, searching
for food like these birds, and devouring crabs and such fishes as are confined
in small shallow pools.  These they catch with considerable agility, in a manner
not employed by any of our other Terns.  While on the St. John's river, I saw
them alight on stakes, in the manner of the Marsh Tern and the Noddy; and as I
ascended that stream, I often saw them, at the distance of seventy miles from
the sea, perched in the middle of the river, on the same sticks as the Florida
Cormorants, and found them more easily approached in the dusk than during broad
daylight.  Until then I had supposed this species to be entirely oceanic, and
averse from mingling with any other.
     The flight of the Cayenne Tern is strong and well sustained, although less
lively or graceful than that of the smaller species, excepting on particular
occasions.  They usually incline their bill downwards, as they search for their
prey, like the other Terns, but keep at a much greater height, and plunge
towards the waters with the speed of an arrow, to seize on small fishes, of
which they appear to capture a great number, especially of the "mullets," which
we saw moving about in shoals, composed of individuals of different sizes.  When
travelling, these birds generally proceed in lines; and it requires the power of
a strong gale to force them back, or even to impede their progress, for they
beat to windward with remarkable vigour, rising, falling, and tacking to right
and left, so as to seize every possible opportunity of making their way.  In
calm and pleasant weather, they pass at a great height, with strong unremitted
flappings, uttering at intervals their cries, which so nearly resemble the
shrieking notes of our little Parrakeet, that I have often for a moment thought
I heard the latter, when in fact it was only the Tern.  At times their cries
resemble the syllables kwee-reek, repeated several times in succession, and so
loudly as to be heard at the distance of half a mile or more, especially when
they have been disturbed at their breeding places, on which occasion they
manifest all the characteristic violence of their tribe, although they are much
more guarded than any other species with which I am acquainted, and generally
keep at a considerable distance from their unwelcome visiters.
     On the 11th of May, 1832, I found the Cayenne Terns breeding on one of the
Tortugas.  There they had dropped their eggs on the bare sand, a few yards above
high-water mark, and none of the birds paid much attention to them during the
heat of the day.  You may judge of my surprise when, on meeting with this Tern
breeding on the coast of Labrador, on the 18th of June, 1833, I found it sitting
on two eggs deposited in a nest neatly formed of moss and placed on the rocks,
and this on a small island, in a bay more than twelve miles from our harbour,
which itself was at some distance from the open Gulf.  On another equally
sequestered islet, some were found amidst a number of nests of our Common Gull;
and, during my stay in that country, I observed that this Tern rarely went to
the vicinity of the outer coast, for the purpose of procuring food, probably
because there was an extreme abundance of small fishes of several kinds in every
creek or bay.  Until that period I was not aware that any Tern could master the
Lestris Pomarinus, to which, however, I there saw the Cayenne Tern give chase,
driving it away from the islands on which it had its eggs.  On such occasions, I
observed that the Tern's power of flight greatly exceeded that of the Jager; but
the appearance of the Great Black-backed Gull never failed to fill it with
dismay, for although of quicker flight, none of the Terns dared to encounter
that bird, any more than they would venture to attack the Frigate Pelican in the
Floridas.
     The Cayenne Tern usually lays