316 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



TERNS, GULLS, AND JAEGERS : ORDER 



LONGIPENNES 



GULLS AND TERNS : FAMILY LARIDiE 

 Terns : Subfamily Sterninae 



• Six species of Tern occur on the sea-coast of New York 

 and New England ; two, the Common Tern and the Black 

 Tern, occasionally appear as casual visitants on large in- 

 land waters. The Common Tern breeds locally off the coast 

 of New York and southern New England, and commonly 

 along the coast of Maine. It occurs as a migrant along the 

 whole coast ; nearly every tern seen by the casual observer 

 belongs to this species, just as nearly every gull which the 

 ordinary observer sees is a Herring Gull. The Koseate 

 Tern breeds locally from Massachusetts southward ; the 

 Arctic Tern from Massachusetts northward. The Least 

 Tern, a very small species, breeds sparingly from Cape Cod 

 southward. The Caspian Tern, a very large species, is a 

 rare migrant in August and September ; the Black Tern is 

 an irregular migrant in late summer. (See p. 319, Common 

 Tern.) 



Black Tern. Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis 



10.00 

 Ad. in early summer. — Head, neck, and under parts sooty- 

 black ; feathers under the tail white ; back, wings, and tail dark 

 gray; bill black. Ad. in late summer arid autumn. — Head, neck, 

 and under parts white ; top of head and stripe back of eye dusky ; 

 back, wings, and tail deep pearl-gray ; bill black. Im. — Similar 

 to fall adult, but upper parts browner ; sides washed with dusky. 



The Black Tern is a rather irregular migrant along the 

 coast of New York and New England in summer and early 

 autumn. It is rarely seen in its adult black plumage, 

 though it is occasionally seen with under parts spotted 



