520 LARID^. 



of bog in the middle of shallow pools. The eggs are three 

 in number, of various shades of ochreous clay, olive-brown, 

 or olive-green, blotched with dark brown, especially at the 

 larger end, and measuring about 1*45 by 1 in. ; they are 

 laid about the third week in May. The food of this Tern 

 consists chiefly of beetles and dragon-flies, with some small 

 fish ; it is also very partial to leeches ; and Mr. Mitchell 

 (Zool. 1879, p. 10) has described its rapid evolution in 

 pursuit of the field cricket (AcJteta campestris) . The 

 insect portion of its prey is taken on the wing with great 

 ease and certainty, as the flight of the bird is rapid, and 

 it turns, stops, or alters its course, in an instant. The 

 note is a shrill crick, crick ; and Pennant says that in the 

 Lincolnshire colonies the noise of the assembled multitude 

 was deafening. The bird was provincially known as the 

 ' Car Swallow.' 



Adult males and females in summer have the bill black ; 

 the irides dark brown ; whole head and neck dark lead- 

 grey, nearly black on the crown and nape ; back, wings, and 

 tail nearly uniform slate-grey, inclining to white on the 

 carpals ; breast and belly, like the head and neck, dark lead- 

 grey ; under wing-coverts pale grey ; vent and under tail- 

 coverts white ; legs, toes, and their short membranes dark 

 reddish-brown ; the tail distinctly, although not deeply, 

 forked, the outer feathers on each side being the longest. 

 The whole length of the bird ten inches ; the wing, from the 

 carpal joint to the end of the first quill-feather, eight inches 

 and a half. 



Adult birds in winter have the forehead, the space between 

 the beak and the eye, the chin, and throat, white; the breast, 

 and to some extent the abdomen, being barred with whitish 

 feathers, although the lower parts do not appear to become 

 quite white as in the young. The other parts as in summer. 



Young birds of the year have the bill brownish-black ; 

 forehead, chin, throat, and a collar round the neck, white ; 

 crown of the head and the nape greyish-black ; feathers of 

 the back and wing-coverts light slate-grey, margined with 

 brown and white ; primaries dark slate-grey ; rump and upper 



