1010 



5 VS TEMA TI C S Y NOP SIS. — L ONGIPENNES. 



dusky, except at base of under inaudible, and a terminal space of varying extent ; feet dusky 

 yellowish. The black cap more or less variegated with white; but tliere is always consider- 

 able black on the nape, and a distinct black bar extends along sides of head, embracing eyes. 

 Lateral tail-feathers not streaming like those of summer, being but little, if any, longer than 

 those of hirundo during the breeding season ; inner web usually darker, and this color may 

 extend on the outer web, especially toward the tip. (In this plumage the bird is S. havelli 

 AuD.) At the moult the old primaries lose their silvering, becoming plain brown and white, 

 their shafts decidedly yellow ; inner webs at this season with white spaces, as distinctly defined 

 as in hirundo and paradisea. Young : Bill smaller and weaker than tliat of the adults, brown- 

 ish-black, dull flesh-color at base of under mandible. Front white, but crown and nape show- 

 ing traces of the black that is to appear, now mixed with light brown. Pearl-blue of mantle 

 interrupted by irregular patches of light grayish -brown, tending to become transverse bars; on 

 the inner secondaries deepening into brownish-black, and occupying nearly the whole extent of 

 each feather. Primaries less silvery than those of tlie adult, with better marked white spaces, 

 like those of adult hirundo. Rump and under parts pure white. Tail deeply emarginate, but 

 lateral feather not streaming, surpassing the 2d pair by scarcely more than the latter surpass 

 the 3d; inner web, for about 1.00 from the tip, and botli webs of the other feathers, grayish- 

 black ; outer web of lateral feather white, but sometimes is invaded at the tip by the darker 

 color of its inner web. Nestlings bufi'y-brown, whitening on the belly, blotched with black 

 on the upi)er parts. North America at large, common ; breeds locally from Texas to the Fur 

 countries, both coastwise and inland; winters as far as Guatemala and even Brazil. Nest 

 commonly in marshes; eggs 2-3, 1.75-1.85 X 1-25-1.35, of variable tone from butfy or pale 

 brownish to olivaceous, freely but irregularly spotted and dashed with different shades of brown 

 and blackish ; commonly laid on grass or seaweed. 



S. liirun'do. (hat. hirundo, a swiiWow. Fig. 695.) Common Tern. Wilson's Tern. Sea 

 Swallow. Bill as long as head, about equalling tarsus and middle toe without claw, moder- 

 ately robust ; height at 

 base contained a little ■IGCSER^^^^H^^Hi^^^BMHRr::^-"^ "'^Tr'' - -^ "ff 



more than five times in 

 length of culmen ; go- 

 nys as long as rami, 

 measured from feathers 

 on side of mandible to 

 angle, which latter i^; 

 but slightly marked. 

 Adult (J 9 > breeding 

 plumage : Bill bright 

 coral or light vermilion 

 on basal half or rather 

 more, the rest black, 

 except the extreme yel- 

 k)wish tips. Iris dark 

 brown. Pileum lus- 

 trous black, with tinge 

 of green ; it extends to 

 lower level of eyes, but 

 leaves the lower lids 

 white, and it is so broad 



on the lores that the white line of feathers along side of mandible hardly reaches to their end. 

 Mantle pearl-blue, beginning insensibly on neck, deepening on back, extending undiluted 





Fig. 695. — Nest and Eggs of Common Tern. 



