THE FORSTER TERN. 747 



Recognition Marks. — Little Hawk size. Black of wings and slate of head 

 and neck mure extensive than in L. Philadelphia : bill black with yellow tip; tail 

 slightly forked ; the black ring bordering the slate of head and upper neck all 

 around is also distinctive. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in Washington. Xcst: on the ground, sand 

 beaches, moss beds, etc. Eggs: 2-5. light or dark olive, obscurely spotted or 

 blotched with brown. Av. size, 1.75 x 1.20 (44.5x30.5). 



General Range. — Arctic regions; in Xorth America south in winter to New 

 York, the th'eat Lakes, and Great Salt Lake, and irregularly along Pacific Coast 

 to Peru. Casual in Kansas, Bermuda, etc. 



Range in Washington. — Casual on (and off) ^^'est Coast during migrations. 

 Two records, one l)y Dr. A. K. Fisher, Sea Island, Shoalwater Bay, Sept. 24. 1897. 



Authorities.— Dawson, Auk, \'ol. XXV. Oct. 1908, p. 484 (Fide A. W. 

 Anthony). 



Specimens. — (P. .A.laska.) 



THIS, the handsomest of the hooded gulls, was first given a place upon 

 our list on the authority of Mr. A. W. Anthon_\-, who sighted one off the 

 \\'ashington coast in the winter of 1898-99. This wandering is not unusual, 

 for the bird has been taken as far south as Peru. And again, Anthonv says: 

 "I have once or twice picked up a lone Sabine's Gull three or four hundred 

 miles offshore, but the vessel offered but a momentary attraction, for after one 

 or two tacks across the wake, as if to read the name and hailing port on the 

 counter, the independent rover was gone." More recently. Dr. A. K. Fisher 

 writes us that he took a specimen at Sea Island in Shoalwater Bay, September 

 24, 1S97. When first seen the bird was running about on the beach busily en- 

 gaged in picking up sand-flies and other crustaceans. Brooks has taken the 

 Sabine Gull at Okanogan Lake ; and a sharp lookout should be kept for it in 

 the interi(5r as well as on the coast. 



No. 300. 



FORSTER'S TERN. " 



A. O. r. No. 69. sterna forsteri Nutt. 



Description. — Adult in suiiuncr: Top of head and nape sooty black; rump 

 white, shading on upper tail-coverts, remaining underparts pale pearl-gray ; wing- 

 quills dusky, heavily overlaid to tips with silvery gray, with ivory shafts, and with 

 white (decreasing inwardly) on the inner webs; tail the color of back, deeply- 

 forked, the outer pair of feathers much elongated and tapering, reaching beyond 

 the tip of the folded wing; their inner zvehs of a much darker gra\ than the nar- 

 row outer webs: underparts white; bill dull orange basally, the terminal half, or 

 at least third, blackish; feet orange-red. Adult in zvinter: Similar, but black 



