388 LAR1D.E, 



slightly forked ; the chin, throat, breast, and all the under 

 surface of the body pure white ; legs, toes, their membranes, 

 and the claws black, the latter strong and curved. 



The whole length of the specimen described, from the 

 point of the beak to the end of the long feathers of the tail, 

 nineteen inches ; some specimens measure twenty to twenty- 

 one inches. Among the Terns the males arc rather larger 

 than the females. From the carpal joint of the wing to the 

 end of the first, which is the longest, quill-feather, seventeen 

 inches and a half, the ends of the wings extending consider- 

 ably beyond the ends of the forked feathers forming the tail. 



Young birds of the year, before their first autumn moult, 

 liave the beak of a dull red, with some black at the point ; 

 the forehead and top of the head white ; the upper surface of 

 the body varied with patches of ash-brown, and darker trans- 

 verse bands ; the feathers of the tail have dark ends ; the 

 primary quill-feathers are also dark ; all the under surface of 

 the body pure white. 



Adult birds in winter have the head white, with a few 

 dark feathers behind the ear-coverts, in all other respects 

 adult birds in winter resemble adult birds in summer, the 

 black head alone excepted. 



