8TEKXA iniM'XDO Lixx. 



'2(1 Common Tern. ("(») 



15111, re<l, lilackeuiiig on the teiiuiual lliiiil. the very jiniiit usually light ; 

 feet, coral red ; mantle, pearly grayish-blue; ))iiniaiy shafts white, except at the 

 end; below white, washed with pale pearly ])liunl)eous blanching on throat and 

 lower belly; tail mostly white, the oii/tr web of the ontei- feather darker than 

 inner web of the same. Length of male, 14A (13-16); extent, 31 (29-32); wing, 

 lOi (9^11J); tail, 6 (o-T) ; tarsus, 'i (§-i); l)il'l, ^-U; whole foot, averaging If; 

 female rather less, averaging towanl these minima; young birds may show a 

 little smaller, in length of tail particularly, and so of total length; length, 12 or 

 more; wing, 9 or more; tail, 4 oi' more: l)ill. li or more. In winter thi.s 

 species does not appear to lose the black-cap, cnulrary to a nearly universal 

 rule. Yoiiu;/ : — Bill mostly dusky, but much of the under mandilile yellowisii ; 

 feet simply yellowish; cap moi-e or less defective; back and wings patchetl and 

 barred with gray and light brown, the bluish showing imperfectly if at all, but 

 this color shading nnich of the tail ; usually a lilackish l)ar along the lesser 

 coverts, and several tail featheis dusky on tlie "n/i r \\eli: beluw. piiie white, oi- 

 with very little plumbeous sliatle. 



H.VB. — (Jreater part of northern lieniisj)here and Afi'ica. In Xorth America 

 chiefly confined to the Eastern Province, breeding from the Aictic coast, some- 

 what irregnlai'ly, to Flori<la and Texas, and wintei'ing farther- south. 



Eggs, two or three, deposited in a hollow in the sand, liglit biowu, tinged 

 with green and blotched with dark brown and lilac of various shades. 



