LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 261 



Later in the season young birds were seen following the old birds to where 

 they fished, all the while loudly calling for food. I was prepared to see the 

 morsel delivered while the birds were still flying, after the manner of the 

 swallow, but it was never so done. The young, at least, must first rest upon 

 the water or land, then the old usually settled for the moment of the delivery, 

 the young bird, first shaking his feathers well before rising and following. 

 During the second week in August young birds were to be seen and heard about 

 Great Harbor and Penzance, but none appeared to be fishing for themselves. 

 Up to this time, there appeared no evidence that either the old or young had 

 begun to molt. 



Plumages. — The downy young of the roseate tern can be readily 

 distinguished from the young of the other species, with which it is 

 associated, by certain well-marked characters. Its general appear- 

 ance is more grizzly, more finely and evenly sprinkled with smaller 

 spots, whereas the young common and arctic terns are more boldly 

 spotted Avith a more conspicuous pattern. The texture of the down 

 is more hair-like, particularly on the heads, necks, and throats of 

 the younger birds. In this respect and in the texture of the down 

 on the back there is a striking resemblance to the young chick of the 

 royal tern. In the newly hatched chick the downy feathers of the 

 back and wdngs stand out separately, round and fluffy at the base, 

 but tapering to a fine point at the tip. There are at least two distinct 

 color phases in the downy young, brown and gray; in the brown 

 phase the color varies from " pinkish buff " or " cream buff " in the 

 youngest birds, to " cinnamon buff " or " chamois " in older birds ; 

 in the gray phase the color varies from " pallid neutral gray " to 

 " pale neutral gray " ; in both phases the upper parts, including the 

 throat, sides of the neck, and flanks, are uniformlj'^ and thickly 

 spotted with small spots of " dark neutral gray " or dull black. 

 Only the central under parts are white. The dusky throat of the 

 young common tern is replaced by a pale grayish area or one uni- 

 form in color with the upper parts. Another distinctive character 

 is the color of the feet; whereas in young common and arctic terns 

 these are in light shades of flesh color, reddish, or orange, in the 

 young roseate they are much darker, " russet vinaceous " in the 

 youngest, to " sorghum brown " or " Hay's brown " in older birds, 

 and finally darkening to dull black in large downies and juvenals. 



The first plumage appears on the scapulars when the young bird 

 is half grown. In the brown phase this is a rich " clay color " ; in 

 the gray phase it is pale buff. The wings are the next to become 

 feathered. The juvenal, or first, plumage is unlike that of the com- 

 mon tern; it is more boldly and conspicuously marked with black 

 and white ; the feathers of the back, scapulars, and tertials are sub- 

 terminally barred with brownish black or heavily marked with 

 U-shaped or V-shaped spots of the same; the scapulars and tertials 

 have several such markings or a variegated pattern of them. When 



