24G BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



antillarum, and Gelochelidon nilotica,), and kept apart from 

 them, though usually nesting in company with the Laughing 

 Gull (Zarus atricilla). Its nests were usually made on the 

 tide-rows of drift-weed on marshy places, while the other terns 

 nested in the sand or, in the case of the Least Tern, on the 

 "shingle" beach. Its note is quite different from that of the 

 species mentioned, but bears some resemblance to the sonorous 

 qua-a-a of the Loggerhead Shrike (Zanius hidovicianus) . 



Sterna hirundo Linn. 



COMMON TERN. 



Popular synonyms. Wilson's Tern; Striker (coast of Virginia); Sea Swallow; Summer Gull 



(coast of New Jersey). 

 Sterna hirundo Linn. S. N. ed. 10, i, 1758, 137; ed. 12, i, 1766, 227.— Wils. Am. Orn. vii, 1813. 



76, pi. 60. fig. 1.— Nutt. Man. ii, 1834,271.— Aud. Orn. Biog. iv, 1838,74,pl. 309; Synop. 



1839, 318; B. Am. vii, 1844, 97, pi. 433.— Coues, Key, 1872, 320 ; Check List, 1873. No. 565; 



2d ed. 1882, No. 797; B. N. W. 1874, 680.— B. B. & R. Water B. N. Am. ii, 1884. 295.— A. 



O. U. Check List, 1886, No. 70.— Ridgw. Man. N. Am. B. 1887,43. 

 Sterna fluviatilis Naum. Isis, 1819, p. 1847-48.— Sharpe & Dresser, B. Eur. Pt. xi, (1872).— 



Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, 649. 

 Sterna senegalensis Swains. B. W. Afr. ii, 1837,259. 

 Sterna wilsoni Bonap. Comp. List, 1838, 61.— Lawr. in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858,861.— Baibd. 



Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 689. 



Hab. Palaearctic region and eastern North America, chiefly near the coast. Winters 

 north to about 37°; breeds irregularly nearly throughout its range. Arizona; Bermudas 

 (summer resident). 



Sp. Char. Adult, in summer: Pileum and nape, including upper half of the iores, 

 uniform deep black. Upper parts deep pearl-gray (much the same shade as in paradiscea), 

 the border of the wing, tips of secondaries, lower part of rump, upper tail-coverts, and 

 greater portion of the tail pure white. Lower parts pearl-gray or grayish white (much 

 lighter than the upper parts), becoming gradually white on the under parts and sides of the 

 head, and pure white on the crissum. Outer web of lateral tail-feather ash-gray, darker 

 terminally, in abrupt contrast with the pure white of the inner web; outer webs of remaining 

 rectrices, except the intermedin, paler grayish. Outer web of outer primary blackish 

 slate; outer surface of other primaries light silvery gra*-, slightly paler than the back; in- 

 ner webs chiefly white, with a stripe of grayish next the shaft, this stripe abruptly defined 

 on the first five quills, but growing gradually broader and paler toward the fifth, and ex- 

 tending, near the end of the feathers, a greater or less distance toward the base, but the 

 edge itself narrowly white; five inner quills pale silvery gray, the inner webs edged with 

 white. Bill bright vermilion, blackish terminally, except on the tomia: inside of mouth or- 

 ange-vermilion; edges of eyelids black; iris very dark brown ; legs and feet orange-vermil- 

 ion, lighter than the bill; claws black, Adult, in winter: Similar, but forehead, crown, and 

 anterior part of lores white, the vertex mixed with black; entire lower parts pure white. 

 Young, first plumage: Orbital region, occiput, and nape deep black; crown mixed black 

 and grayish white; forehead and lores, with entire lower parts, upper tail-coverts, inner 

 webs of rectrices, and tips of secondaries, white. Upper parts pale b uish gray, the scapu- 

 lars, interscapulars, and tertials tipped with pale buff, and marked with an indistinct sub- 

 terminal lunule of dusky brown; anterior lesser wing-coverts dusky, forming a broad bar 

 across the wing; primaries much as in the adult, but darker; wing- coverts paler than the 

 back, and bordered indistinctly with white. Outer webs of rectrices grayish, deepening on 



