748 THE FORSTER TERN. 



cap wanting', represented only by (hi>ky strijie on side of head, and by s;ra\-isli 

 tinge of hind-head and nape : tail shorter and not so dee])ly forked, the outer 

 feathers broader and less tapering: bill duller, the dusky tip scarcely contrasting; 

 feet dull reddish. Young: Like adult in winter, but upperparts varied by. or 

 overlaid with, light brownish; sides of head more or less tinged with the same 

 shade; tail shorter, its feathers becoming dusky terminally. Length 14.00-15.00 

 (355.6-381) ; wing 10.00 (254) ; tail, the central feathers, 2.80 (71. 1 ) : the lateral 

 pair 6.75-7.00 I 171.5-179.1) ; bill 1.57 (30.01; depth at base .40 (10.2); tarsus 

 .98 (24.9). 



Recognition Marks. — Size of Common Tern ; distinguishable from it by 

 subtle but sure marks; the bill is stouter and more extensively black on terminal 

 portion; the upper tail-coverts are grayer; the tail more deeply forked, and the 

 outer pair of feathers dark on inner webs. 



Nesting. — Xcst: in colonies in marshes on the ground of low islands, in 

 grass, etc., lined with grasses, flags, and the like. Eggs: 2 or 3, rarelv 4, dull 

 white, greenish white, olive-gray, ashy-brown, etc.. spotted and blotched with 

 l)lackish brown or umber, and with shell-marks of stone gray and lavender. Av. 

 size. 1.80 X 1.25 (45.7x31.8). Season: June ; one brood. 



General Range. — Xorth .\merica generally, breeding from ^Manitoba south- 

 ward til \ irginia. Illinois. Te.xas. and California; in winter southward to Brazil. 



Range in Washington. — Breeding in marshes in Douglas County; doubtless 

 summer resident and migrant elsewhere about smaller lakes of East-side. 



Authorities. — X ot f'reriouslx published. ["Foster's (sic) tern" Tohnson. 

 Rep. C-.v. W. T. 1884 (1885), p. 2^.] 



Specimens. — ( L . of W .) 



THE name forstcri serves to designate a very indi\i(lual Tern. Init the 

 word is eloqtient also of the earl_\' ornitliological struggle. The Forster Tern 

 has, in fact, emerged only bv slow degrees from a chaos of ornithological mis- 

 apprehension and neglect, such as. for example, shrouded the infancy of the 

 Rough-winged Swallow (Stclgidopteryx scrripciinis I . or the Williamson 

 Sapsucker t Sf>Ii\rapiciis fhyroidcus) . Forster's alter ego was. of course, the 

 Common Tern (S. hiniinlo). {o which it does hear a close sujierficial resem- 

 blance. Sw'ainson and Richardson described specimens under the title 5. 

 hinindo in their '"Fauna Boreali-Americana," in 183 1. Xnttall, struck with 

 the odditv of the characters assigned, proposed the name Sterna forsteri in a 

 footnote of his "^Manual"' (1834). .\udnbon described an imperfect plumage 

 of this bird under the caption Sterna lia-2'elli. in 1839. liut it was not until 1858 

 that its characters were clearly defined by Lawrence. 



Misapprehension as to the bird's distribution naturally persisted for a much 

 longer time, and the last word has prolialily not even yet been said. Cones, in 

 1874. wrote-'' ; "It breeds in the interior of British America and very abund- 



a. "Birds of tlie Northwest, " pp 6-9. 6S0. 



