268 WEB-FOOTED BIRDS. 



almost wholly on insects, which, like Swallows, they sometimes seize 

 and devour as they continue their flight. They nest in great numbers 

 on the bare ground, slightly hollowed, or on rocks and shores, pre- 

 ferring such as are insulated, reniaining in close community with 

 each otlier ; the eggs are from 2 to 4, and from their different mark- 

 ings and relative size in the same nest, there is reason to suppose 

 that they sometimes lay in each others. The hatching of the eggs is 

 mostly left to the influence of the sun, yet the young are sedulously 

 fed and protected. — The species are met with on almost every sea 

 coast in the world ; and many are common to the whole of the same 

 hemisphere, particularly in the cold and temperate climates. They 

 are closely allied to the Gulls, into which they appear to pass by in- 

 sensible gradations of structure. 



t In this section, the ichole are clothed in white, with the hack, wirigs 

 and tail, pearl- grey. 



CAYENNE TERN. 



(Sterna cayana. Lath. Ind. ii. p. 804. sp. 2. Bonap. Synops. No. 

 284. S. caspia, var. Sparmann, Mus, Carlsb. No. 62. La grande 

 Hirondelle-de-7ner de Cayenne. PI. Enlum. 988. [winter livery].) 



Sp. Charact. — Bill long and rather stout, orange; quill shafts 

 white ; tail moderately forked; tarsus 1^ inches long, black; webs 

 entire. — Summer phimage, with the whole crown black. Winter 

 dress, with the hind head only marked with black. 



Of this species, very similar to others, little more is known 

 than that it is an exclusive inhabitant of America, though 

 reported to have been sometimes seen also in Europe. It 

 inhabits the coasts of the tropical seas, and is frequent in 

 Cayenne and other warmer parts of the continent, as well 

 as common along the coasts of the Southern States of the 

 Union. 



The length of this species is about IC inches. The hind part of 

 the head black, in winter. The upper plumage grey, the feathers 

 (probably in young birds.) margined with pale rufous ; under part 

 of the body white. 



