ROSEATE TERN. 547 



distinction. The amount of red seems to depend upon age 

 and season, and in preserved specimens it is to a great 

 extent evanescent. 



Colonel W. V. Legge, who had many opportunities for 

 observing this species in Ceylon, says that it is purely a 

 sea-coast species, rarely being seen away from salt water, 

 and seldom even frequenting salt lagoons near the sea. 

 Although not a swift bird in its ordinary flight, it turns with 

 ease and grace, and while proceeding with light though 

 measured strokes of its wings over the breaking surf, it will 

 suddenly wheel round, point its bill downwards, and either 

 fall like an arrow upon its prey, or sweep gracefully down 

 in a curve and delve up the 'fry ' from the surface. Its long 

 streamers are carried close together, so that the bird appears 

 on the wing to have an attenuated parrakeet-like tail. It 

 constantly utters a monosyllabic and not unmusical piping 

 note, but when a pair are together they give out a harsh 

 crake (B. of Ceylon, p. 1034). By a fine ear this note is 

 quickly recognized. 



The eggs of the Roseate Tern are usually two or three in 

 number, and are placed in a hollow of the sand, sometimes 

 surrounded by a few dried bents. As a rule they are some- 

 what longer than those of the Arctic Tern, but they are 

 subject to similar variations. The ground-colour is a creamy- 

 white or buff-brown, blotched and clouded with bluish-grey 

 and rich brown : average measurements 11 by 1'15. The 

 food of this species is small fish. 



On the wing the Eoseate Tern may be distinguished from 

 its congeners by its elegant and attenuated form, and its 

 proportionally short wings : it is in fact among the circling 

 crowd of Arctic and Common Terns, like the greyhound to 

 other dogs. In the hand an unfailing sign of distinction is 

 presented by the primaries, in which the white inner margins 

 extend quite round the tips and even a little way up the 

 outer webs. No other European species is so characterized, 

 except the Sandwich Tern, whose size alone would prevent 

 confusion ; and, in a less degree, this will apjjly to Sterna 

 frontalis, a species intermediate in size, and found in New 



