S. SUPERCILIARIS VAR. ANTILLARUM, LEAST TERN. 695 



wbich I shot on the Curolina coast in the Lreecliug season, I fonud many with the black 

 tip reduced to a mere point, and a few without ti'ace of black. This supposed distinc- 

 tion, therefore, fails as a test, though an average difference in this respect really liolds, 

 enough perhaps to warrant our recognition of a var. antUlarum, coupled as this charac- 

 ter is with the notably smaller size, especially of the bill. But I feel quite contident 

 that I was right in uniting antUlarum specitically with superciliaris, as I did in the 

 " Key," following Hartlaub, Cabauis, and Gray. 



Jniillarttm being referable specifically to superciliaris, which latter has a bill equaling 

 in size that of minuia of Europe, we are reduced, in separating these two species, to the 

 character of extent of the pearl-gray mantle of superciliaris over the rump and tail, 

 which latter parts are in iniuuta pure white, like the belly. In the American bird, 

 according to my observations, the white frontal lunula at least averages considerably 

 narrower than that of the European, but this is not a very reliabk' character. I con- 

 tinue to separate the two speciiically, though there is much to be said in favor of their 

 merely varietal difference, as held by Sundevall. 



The term tuiuuta, used by earlier American writers, being preoccui)ied for the Euro- 

 pean bird, while sujjerciliaris may perhaps be best restricted to the South American 

 (where its synonymn argeiitea also belongs); the name aniillarum, Lesson (1847), ante- 

 dating Gambel's frenata of 1848, may be applied to the North and Middle American 

 form, as I pointed out in 18<i2. There is no question of its pertinence here, nor that 

 Lesson's mclanorhyncha is the young of the same. 



Although this species is more particularly abundant along the 

 Atlantic coast, yet its distribution in the interior of the United States, 

 along the larger water-courses, is more general than has been com- 

 monly supposed. Dr. Hayden got it in various parts of the Missouri 

 region, and Prof. Snow has it in his list. It migrates up the Mississippi 

 from the Gulf, though most of the individuals prefer to pass along the 

 coast. On the Pacitic side it reaches California. It breeds at various 

 points all along, and in winter retires far south, as seen by the above 

 quotations. The best opportunity I have had of studying its habits 

 occurred to me on the Korth Carolina coast, where it is a summer resi- 

 dent, from early in April until October, and, except at the height of the 

 influx of the other kinds, the most abundant Tern of all. It breeds 

 there in great numbers. A specimen, shot May 17, had then an egg 

 ready to be laid ; but most of the eggs are deposited toward June, and 

 duriiig the fore part of that month. The first young birds I noticed 

 ^vere flying June 20; but this was early for them, the broods not being 

 fairly on wing until the middle of July. During all of May and June, 

 indeed, there are plenty of immature birds about; but these, it should 

 be observed, are of the last summer's broods, rendering the conclusion 

 obvious that at least two years are recpiired to assume the perfect dress. 

 These birds have the bill black, no black cap or Avhite crescent, slaty 

 auricuhirs and occiput, dark bar along the iront edge of the wing, 

 imi»erfectly-colored primaries, and slightly forked tail; thus not possibly 

 to be confounded with biids of the season, which are curiously varie- 

 gated with gray-brown and white, and show no pearly-blue. The year- 

 lings were in i)lenty with the adults at the breeding-grounds; but 

 whether or not they were paired and had eggs too, was plainly impos- 

 sible to determine," as Terns' eggs are almost never identified as to the 

 exact parent, when numbers of the birds arc breeding together, as they 

 were in this case. The usual number of eggs is two, not three, and 

 often oidy oiu' is laid ; they do no not average over IJ by 1 inch. The 

 eggs here were laid on the pebbly shingle Just back of the beach, among 

 the sand-dunes, and were dei)osited on the bare ground all around, in a 

 scarcely pcrcejjtible depression, or nt)iu' at all. During the season the 

 air is lilh-d with the shrill ciies of the birds winging overhead ; they are 

 fearless in attempted defence of their charge, often dashing down 

 Avilhiu a few feet of one's head. The eggs are very dillieult to lind, even 

 wlieii numerous, as they are colored much like their surroundings. The 



