Tern

This is why birds like the pigeon or the Arctic tern can find their way around the world.

Have you heard of a bird called the Arctic Tern?

"A tern is flying away over the sea," said the children who saw the white bird. Now it dived into the sea, and now it soared up into the bright sunshine. It gleamed so brightly that it was not possible to see what became of it; they said it flew right into the sun.

He felt the sun very hot upon his shoulders, and he heard the harsh, insistent jarring of a tern that hovered and circled with forked tail and sharp white wings in the sunlight just above their heads; but all the time he stood staring into the good old gentleman's face.

And yet, now even, if Madonna willed, / She'd win a tern in Thursday's lottery, / And better all things.

tern flowers    tern leaves

a tern schooner, one with three masts