COMMON TERN 



171 



ashy grey on a white ground replace the black of the head and nape ; 

 these streaks continuing, however, to form a patch around the ear. 

 Immature birds have the plumage mottled and striped with brown 

 and tinged with buff above, and the beak and legs horn-coloured. 



With the common tern, formerly known as Sterna 

 Jiintndo a name properly belonging apparently in 

 part to an Arctic species), we come to the typical 

 representative of the genus Sterna, and therefore of the entire sub- 

 family. In common with the allied species (exclusive of the gull-billed 



Common Tern 

 (Sterna fluviatilis). 



MOUNTED IN THE F.OA 



RO STUDIOS 



COMMON TERN (SUMMER) 



tern, whose slight differences from the ordinar\' type have been already 

 noted), this tern has the outer tail-feathers elongated and pointed, the 

 tail deeply forked, with its outer feathers also elongated and generally 

 more than half the length of the wing, the shank of the leg short and 

 inferior in length to the middle toe and claw, and the beak generally 

 slender (although heavy in the Indian river-tern, Sterna seena). 

 Something like forty species are included in the genus, which has a 

 cosmopolitan distribution. Unlike the marsh-terns, these birds are 

 chiefly maritime in their haunts, and are in consequence collectively 

 designated sea-terns. 



The present species, in the adult condition, is specially characterised 

 by the orange-red beak, coral-red legs, and the pale lavender-grey tint 

 of the lower surface of the body ; the crown of the head and nape in 



