624 GULL-BILLED TERN. 



Gulf. In the cold season it visits China, the Eastern Archipelago, 

 India and Ceylon ; in the latter the northern birds meet with 

 individuals of a slightly paler race which breeds in Australia and 

 was distinguished by Gould as S. viacrotarsa. In America the Gull- 

 billed Tern nests along the east coast from New Jersey to Texas, as 

 well as in the Bahamas, Cuba &c., and probably on the back-waters 

 near Santa Catarina in Brazil, while it ranges as far south as Pata- 

 gonia. On the Pacific side Mr. Salvin obtained it in Guatemala. 



A slight hollow scratched in the earth or sand, lined with a few 

 fragments of sea-weed or dried grass, serves as the receptacle for the 

 eggs, which are 2 or 3 in number ; their ground-colour is usually 

 pale buff — occasionally of a pale greenish tint which soon fades — 

 blotched and spotted with several shades of brown : average 

 measurements 2 by i'4 in. During the breeding-season the note 

 resembles the syllables chc-ah, but at other times the bird utters a 

 laughing af,af,af, like a Gull. In Ceylon Col. Legge found it 

 feeding on frogs, crabs and fish ; in Egypt Von Heuglin observed 

 it darting into the dense smoke of a prairie fire in pursuit of locusts ; 

 and in Algeria Mr. Salvin noticed it hovering over grass fields, 

 and pouncing upon grasshoppers and beetles ; it also captures many 

 species of insects on the wing. Its flight is graceful but not very 

 rapid, the long wings being plied with measured steady strokes. 



The adult in summer has the forehead, crown and nape jet black ; 

 upper parts pale grey, except where the frosting has been rubbed off 

 the primaries, which are then darker, especially on the edges of the 

 inner webs ; under parts pure white ; bill black, very stout and 

 strong ; legs and feet black, with a tinge of red. Length i5'5 ; wing 

 13 in. In winter the head is white, with ash-grey streaks, some of 

 which unite and form patches on the eye and ear-coverts. The 

 young bird is mottled and striped with brown, tinged with buff on 

 the upper parts, while the bill and legs are brown ; and even in 

 the second year, when breeding takes place, the latter are still livid. 

 The bill is subject to great individual variation, but is generally 

 largest in males ; the feet are almost as fully webbed as in the 

 true Sea-Terns ; the tail is short, and the lateral feathers are 

 slightly rounded, though more pointed than in the Marsh-Terns. 

 This species was made the type and sole representative of the genus 

 Gelochelidon by Brehm, who further devised Sylochelidon for the. 

 Caspian Tern. 



