ROSEATE TERN. 395 



tember, and breeds on some small islands on the coast of 

 Brittany and Picardy. M. Calvi and M, Savi include it 

 among the birds of Genoa and Italy. Dr. Heineken sent 

 specimens from Madeira, and Dr. Andrew Smith brought 

 others from the Cape of Good Hope. This species appears 

 to have a very wide geographical range. Mr. Audubon men- 

 tions that he found this Tern breeding in abundance at the 

 Florida Keys ; and Mr. Gould, in his Birds of Europe, says 

 he has received many skins from India, particularly from the 

 coast of Malabar. 



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 ; 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, the inner webs lighter; 

 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. The whole length of the bird fifteen 

 inches and a half. From the carpal joint to the end of the 

 longest quill-feather nine inches and a quarter. 



Mr. Selby describes the young bird of the year as having 

 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 Avood- 

 brown ; back and wing-coverts bluish-grey, barred with black- 

 ish-grey, the feathers tipped with yellowish-white ; quills 

 grey, the exterior web of the first feather black ; tail grey, 

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

 under parts white ; legs pale red. 



The plumage of the adult bird in winter is unknown, but 

 it is probable that it only loses the black and the rose colour 

 which belong to the breeding-season. 



