548 LARIDiE. 



Zealand, The latter has similar white margins, but it is 

 larger than the Roseate Tern, and, in the breeding-plumage, 

 it has a white band at the base of the bill. 



In the adult bird in summer, the bill from the point to 

 the nostrils, is black, from thence to the base or gape, red ; 

 the irides dark-brown ; all the top of the head black; neck, 

 all round, white ; back, wing-coverts, and quill- feathers, ash- 

 grey ; the outer webs of the primaries dark grey, and a streak 

 of the same colour next the shaft on the inner web, followed 

 by a white margin which runs down to and round the tip to 

 join the outer web ; tail-feathers very long, extending beyond 

 the ends of the wings, the colour pale ash-grey ; breast and 

 all the under surface of the body white, strongly tinted with 

 a delicate rose-colour, whence the bird derives its name ; 

 legs, toes, and their membranes, red. In winter the forehead 

 becomes white, or nearly so, and the orange-red at the base 

 of the mandible diminishes or disappears. 



The whole length of the bird is fifteen inches and a half. 

 From the carpal joint to the end of the longest quill-feather 

 nine inches and a quarter. 



The young bird of the year has the bill black, orange- 

 yellow at the base ; forehead and crown of a very pale wood- 

 brown ; region of the eyes, ear-coverts, and nape of the 

 neck, black, the latter barred with pale wood-brown ; back 

 and wing-coverts bluish-grey, barred with black and tipped 

 with yellowish-white ; quills grey, as in the adult ; tail grey, 

 the exterior webs the darkest, the tips of the feathers white ; 

 under parts white ; legs pale red. By the end of the year 

 the bufl'-colour and the barrings have disappeared, but a dark 

 line along the carpals, some darker spots on the inner 

 secondaries, and the shorter and darker tail, are signs of 

 immaturity which are lost at the next autumn moult. 



The nestling is white below, and spotted with white, grey 

 and buff on the upper parts ; it is much lighter in colour 

 than the young of either the Common or the Arctic, and 

 more like the nestling of the Sandwich Tern, 



