LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 229 



tember, November, and January. Brazil records: Rio Janeiro, Au- 

 gust; Santa Catharina, February and August. Straits of Magellan, 

 Punta Arenas, November 19 and 20. Chile, Arica Bay, August. 



Casual record. — Accidental in North America. New Jersey (Great 

 Egg Harbor). 



Egg dates. — St. Ambrose Island, Chile : One record, December 17. 



STERNA FORSTERI NuUall. 

 FOEETER'S TEEN. 



HABITS. 



Although differing from the common tern in several details and in 

 its habits, the Forster's tern so closely resembles it in general ap- 

 pearance that it is not to be wondered at that the species remained 

 so long unrecognized, and that, even after its discovery, its distribu- 

 tion and habits were so little understood. Audubon (1840) described 

 and figured this species, in its winter plumage under the name 

 Sterna havelli, but apparently never recognized it in its spring 

 plumage. Doctor Coues (1877) says of it: 



Swainson and Richardson described it as the common tern; Wilson did not 

 know it at all ; and Audubon only became aware of it in the imperfect plumage 

 which he described as "havelli." Nuttall doubtingly gave it a name upon the 

 strength of Richardson's description. Mr. Lawrence, in 1858, was the first to 

 elucidate its characters satisfactorily, while it was not until the appearance 

 of my paper that its changes of plumage became known. 



But even he, with all his wide field experience, was entirely ig- 

 norant of its breeding range, saying : 



It breeds in the interior of British America, and very abundantly, to judge 

 from the great numbers of eggs from that region I have seen. It may yet be 

 found to nest on or near the northern tier of States. 



It is now known, of course, to have a very wide breeding range, as 

 far east as Virginia, as far south as Texas, and as far west asl 

 California. 



It seems to me that the name marsh tern might much more prop- 

 erly have been applied to this species than to the gull-billed tern, for 

 Forster's tern is, during the breeding season at least, essentially a 

 bird of the marshes, whereas the gull-billed tern shows a decided 

 preference for sandy beaches. 



Spring. — Rev. P. B. Peabod}' (1896) says that these terns arrive 

 on their breeding grounds at Heron Lake, Minnesota "about April 

 7," and describes their behavior as follows : 



Terns creep, scout-like, on the wing, along the thawing shores. Then, as heat 

 and wind wave melt and crush the ice bonds of the lake, the tern speedily as- 

 sumes the hawk-like (or swallow-like) habit, wandering fitfully over tlie newly 

 released waters, with eye alert, beak pointing downward, and with many a 



