WHITE-WINGED BLACK TERN. 525 



iu Australia ; and be states (B. New Zealand, p. 287) that 

 two in full summer plumage were shot when associating with 

 a large breeding colony of Sterna frontalis, in the Province 

 of Nelson, New Zealand, on the 12th of December, 1868. 



In North America an isolated occurrence is on record. 

 An adult female in summer plumage was obtained on Lake 

 Koskonong, Wisconsin, July 5th, 1873, by Mr. T. Kumlien, 

 and presented to the Smithsonian Institution by the late 

 Dr. T. M. Brewer. 



The White-winged Black Tern nests in marshes ; sometimes 

 in company with the Black Tern, where, as in Central Europe, 

 the latter preponderates, but, in large colonies of its own in 

 South-eastern Russia and Siberia, where it is the dominant 

 species. Its eggs, deposited on the floating vegetation in 

 May and June, are usually three in number, of an olivaceous- 

 buff, boldly blotched and streaked with dark brown, and spotted 

 with grey of different shades ; average measurements about 

 1*35 by 1 in. In its flight it is more rapid than the Black 

 Tern, and it is said to have a louder and harsher voice than 

 that species. Its food consists of dragon-flies, water-insects 

 and their larva?. 



An adult male in summer plumage has the beak livid red ; 

 the irides hair-brown ; the head, neck, and upper part of the 

 back, glossy-greenish-black, the feathers becoming lighter in 

 colour towards the rump; upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers 

 white ; anterior portion of the outside of the wing white, 

 passing into a light grey on the larger wing-coverts ; primary 

 wing-feathers frosted with grey, which wears off, leaving the 

 webs, especially those of the outer ones, sooty-black ; a long 

 triangular streak of white starting from the base of the broad 

 inner web ; shafts white ; the secondaries grey ; tertials and the 

 scapulars slate-grey. The chin, neck in front, breast, belly, 

 sides, and flanks, black ; under wing-coverts black ; under tail- 

 coverts, and under surface of the tail-feathers, white ; legs, 

 toes, and their membranes orange-red ; the claws black ; the 

 interdigital membranes very much indented. 



The whole length nine inches and a half ; the wing, from 

 the carpal joint to the end of the first primary, eight inches 

 and a quarter. 



