THE GULL-BILLED TERN. 555 



Range in Ohio. — "Accidental in winter on Lake Erie" (Wheaton). A 



single specimen said to have been taken at Cleveland by Mr. Winslow, but no 

 longer extant. 



THE Fork-tailed Gull is a bird of the Arctic regions, and our knowledge 

 of it is obtained almost entirely from the journals of Arctic travellers, dating 

 from that of the discoverer, Colonel Edward Sabine, in 1818. In common 

 with several other birds of this group, its under parts are suffused with a 

 delicate pinkish or rosy blush during the actual breeding season. One ob- 

 server, Captain McFarlane, describes a male taken in July as "deeply tinged 

 with crimson." 



The species retires from the higher latitudes with the approach of winter, 

 but only a scattering few come as far south as our northern borders. The 

 bird's claim to recognition here rests solely upon Mr. Winslow's record of 

 an immature bird, taken in Cleveland harbor many years since, and for a 

 time preserved in the museum of the Cleveland Medical College. 



No. 266. 



GULL-BILLED TERN. 



A. O. U. Xo. 63. Gelochelidon nilotica (Hasselq.). 



Synonym. — Marsh Tern. 



Description. — Adult in summer: Top of head and nape black; remaining 

 upper parts light pearl-gray ; primaries silver-gray over dusky, blackening on 

 tips but with ivory-white shafts, and with some white on inner edge of inner web, 

 the amount of white decreasing inwardly ; tail slightly forked ; remaining plumage 

 white; bill rather short and stout, with conspicuous angle, and culmen decidedly 

 curving toward tip, — hence like a Gull's — black; feet blackish. Adult in winter: 

 Similar, but head and neck white with dusky gray spots before eye and on ear- 

 coverts and grayish suffusion on hind-neck or with traces of black cap in var- 

 iable proportions. Young: Like adult in winter, but upper parts with a buffy 

 wash, and feathers of crown, hind neck, back, and scapulars, streaked or spotted 

 with brownish duskv. Length 13.00-15.00 (330.2-381.) ; wing 12.00 (304.8) ; tail 

 4.50-5.50 (114.3-139.7), forked 1. 25-1. 75 ('31.8-44.5); bill 1.35 (343); de P th 

 of bill at base .48 (12.2) ; tarsus 1.30 (33.). 



Recognition Marks. — Size of Common Tern; bill shorter and stouter, black; 

 wings longer. 



Nesting. — Not known to breed in Ohio. Nest, on the ground, usually of 

 low islands, in sand or short grass, scantily lined, or not. with grass, etc. "Eggs, 

 3-5. rather uniform buffy white, with numerous and obscure chocolate markings. 

 1.80 x 1.30 (45.7 x 33.)" ( Chapman). 



General Range. — Nearly cosmopolitan ; in North America chiefly along the 

 Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States, breeding north to southern New 



