LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 225 



tied with such dusky tips over the entire back and pileum. The bill 

 is light yellowish flesh-color, and the feet either the same or dull gray- 

 ish in the dried skin. The ju venal plumage appears first on the 

 scapulars, back, and wings. In the juvenal plumage the forehead 

 and crown are white, the latter streaked with black, which increases 

 on the occiput and auriculars to nearly solid black; the back and 

 scapulars are boldly marked with black spots and V-shaped mark- 

 ings, which are largest and most prominent on the scapulars; the 

 remiges are slaty gray with white edges; the rectrices are grayish 

 white with dusky subterminal areas or black-spotted near the tips; 

 there is a grayish cubital band on the lesser wing-coverts and the 

 greater coverts are Avashed with pale gray ; the under parts are white. 

 A partial post juvenal molt begins in September, at which the dark 

 markings disappear and the first winter plumage is assumed. This 

 is similar to the adult winter plumage except that the wings and tail 

 of the juvenal plumage are retained. This plumage is worn all win- 

 ter until the first complete prenuptial molt in the early spring, at 

 which probably most young birds assume a plumage practically in- 

 distinguishable from the adult. 



Adults have two complete molts each year. The prenuptial 

 molt occurs between March and May, producing the well-known 

 breeding plumage. The postnuptial begins early in July and often 

 lasts through August and September. In winter adults the yellow 

 tip of the bill is duller and more restricted ; the forehead is white, the 

 crown narrowly streaked with black, and the occipital crest is brown- 

 ish black; the tail is shorter than in the spring and shows some gray 

 near the end. 



Food. — The food of Cabot's tern consists almost wholly of small 

 fish, such as small mullets, sand launces, and young garfish, which 

 it obtains by making vigorous plunges into the water much after the 

 manner of other terns; but it also eats shrimps and squids. It is 

 more of a sea bird than the smaller terns, and is more often seen feed- 

 ing out on the open sea or among the breakers than in the quiet tidal 

 estuaries. Audubon (1840) thus describes its feeding habits: 



While plunging after the small mullets and other diminutive fishes that 

 form the principal part of its food, it darts perpendicularly downward with 

 all the agility and force of the common and arctic terns, nearly immersing its 

 whole body at times, but rising instantly after, and quickly regaining a posi- 

 tion from which it can advantageously descend anew. Should the fish dis- 

 appear as the bird is descending the latter instantly recovers itself without 

 plunging into the water. 



Behavior. — In flight this is one of the swiftest and most skillful 

 of the terns. Its long, slender, pointed form is highly specialized 



