384 



BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



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The White -winged Black Tern (^Hydrochelidon kucoptera, 

 Meisner and Schinz) is a rare irregular spring and autumn 

 migrant to the British Isles, and inhabits the Southern 

 Palearctic Region. The adult in summer has the head, 

 crown, neck, nape, and back, rich shining black ; lesser 

 wing-coverts and shoulders, white; greater wing-coverts 

 and secondaries, grey ; axillaries, black ; upper tail-coverts 

 and tail, white ; quills, blackish, tinged with grey ; under 

 parts, black ; vent, white ; irides, dark hazel ; bill, red ; legs 

 and feet, reddish-orange. Length, about nine inches. 

 After the autumn moult the head and neck of this tern 

 are white, marked on the nape with black ; mantle, slate- 

 grey : under wing-coverts, greyish ; rest of under parts, 

 white. 



