LITTLE TERN. 653 



elsewhere with reticular scales ; two small membranes with 

 a deep concave margin ; claws not much arched, very acute. 



Plumage soft, blended ; the feathers broad and rounded. 

 Wings very long, narrow, and pointed ; primary quills taper- 

 ing, the outer slightly incurvate ; secondaries short, broad, 

 incurved. Tail rather long, very deeply forked, the lateral 

 feathers attenuated, the medial short and rounded. Wings 

 about an inch longer than the tail. 



Bill light orange, the tips black for a third of an inch. 

 Eyes brown. Feet orange, claws black. A white triangular 

 space on the forehead, extending over the eyes ; two black 

 loral bands ; upper part of the head and nape black. Hind 

 neck, back, and wings, light greyish-blue ; hind part of back 

 and tail white. Outer two primary quills greyish-black, their 

 inner webs with a broad white margin, unless toward the 

 end. 



Length to end of tail 10 inches ; extent of wings 21 ; bill 

 along the ridge 1^ ; tarsus -^ ; middle toe -^ ; its claw 

 nearly ■^. 



Female. — The female is similar to the male, but some- 

 what less. 



Length 9 inches ; extent of wings 20 ; bill l-^. 



Habits. — This species arrives in the beginning of May, 

 and settles here and there along the sandy shores, from the 

 south of England to the Orkney Islands. Many localities 

 are mentioned on the east coast ; but very few on the west. 

 Sir William Jardine mentions one on the Solway at Skinbur- 

 ness. There are several on the Firth of Forth, and not a few 

 on the east coast of the middle division of Scotland : as the 

 sands of Barry near Dundee, a place three miles north of the 

 mouth of the Don, another near the mouth of the Ythan, the 

 sands near the Loch of Strathbeg, and those between Burg- 

 head and Findhorn. Its habits are, in a general sense, much 

 the same as those of the Arctic and Common Terns. I can- 

 not give a better account of them than the following, which I 

 extract from an unpublished work : — 



" Aberdeen, Saturday, 16th June, 1849. — In the elegance 



