56 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



FORSTER'S TERN 

 Sterna forsteri Niittall 



A. O. U. Number 69 See Color Plate 7 



Other Names. — Havell's Tern (immature); Sea 

 Swallow. 



General Description. — Length, 15 inches. Color, 

 white with pale grayish-blue mantle. Tail, forked for 

 half its length. Not distinguishable from either the 

 Common Tern or the ."Xrctic Tern e.xcept with speci- 

 inens in hand. 



Color. — Adults in Summer: Crown, glossy black 

 not extending below eye ; mantle, pale grayish-blue ; 

 primaries strongly silvered; entire under parts and 

 rump, white ; the tzvo long outside tail-feathers, ichite 

 on outer iveb, dusky gray on inner; bill, orange-yellozv, 

 terminal half, black with the e.xtreme tip yellow; feet, 

 bright orange; iris, brown. AnuLxs in Winter: Crown 

 variegated with white; nape, dusky; a distinct black bar 

 on sides of head embracing eyes; outside tail-feathers. 



Tlie Caspian Terns nest in colonies through 

 the lake region of southern Oregon. They gather 

 on one of the tule islands. We found two of the 

 largest colonies on Lower Klamath and IMalheur 

 lakes, where these birds were living near a colony 

 of California and Ring-billed Gulls. \Mien we 

 first visited Lower Klamath Lake, in 1905, we 

 found these Gulls and Terns together with White 

 Pelicans, Farallon Cormorants, Western Grebes, 

 and Great Blue Herons, gathered in what might 

 have been called one immense colony in the titles 



shorter than in summer ; bill, dusky except at base 

 below ; feet, dusky yellowish. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In marshes; constructed of 

 dead reeds and stems of water plants and lined with 

 finer reeds. Eggs : 2 or 3, varying from pure white or 

 pale green to warm brownish-drab irregularly spotted 

 with brown, umber, and lilac. 



Distribution. — North America at large ; breeds in 

 California, Oregon, Nevada, southwestern Saskatche- 

 wan, and Manitoba south to northern Colorado, north- 

 ern Nebraska, northeastern Illinois and southern 

 Ontario, and on the coasts of Texas. Louisiana, and 

 Virginia; winters from southern California, Gulf of 

 Mexico, and South Carolina southward to Guate- 

 mala; rare as far north as Massachusetts; casual in 

 Brazil. 



on the northwest side of the lake. -Since that 

 time, however, owing to disturbance, the birds 

 have scattered : the Gulls. Terns, and Grebes have 

 moved their colonies to other parts of the lake. 

 As one cruises about these lakes, he sees the 

 graceful little Black and Forster's Terns flitting 

 along over the surface, dropping here and there 

 to pick up a bit to eat. The Caspian Tern is 

 much larger than these two and is sometimes 

 mistaken for a Gull. However, the exceedingly 

 long wings, jet-black cap, and deep-red beak are 



'*<" I ^ 







Photo by W. L. Finley and H. T. Bohlman 



FORSTER'S TERN 

 On nest built on a muskrat house 



