38 
SOOTY TERN. 
marked with different shades of pale brown and lighter tints 
of purple. The female, while sitting, is fed by the male in 
a tender and affectionate manner. 
Male; length, one foot five inches; bill, black; from its 
base a black streak goes back to the eye; forehead, white, 
‘ending in a concave curve with a point over each eye;’ 
head on the crown and sides, neck on the back, and nape, 
sooty brown black; the sides of the neck and the lower part 
of the sides of the head, white; chin, throat, and breast, 
white. 
The wings, when closed, reach to within two inches of the 
end of the tail; primaries, dark sooty brownish black; second¬ 
aries, also sooty brownish black, but paler in colour on the 
outer edges; greater and lesser under wing coverts, white. 
The tail, which is deeply forked, has the outside feather on 
each side white on the outer web, the others are white at 
the base; the long feathers are grey below; under tail coverts, 
white; legs and toes, black; webs, black. 
In the young bird the tail has the outer feather on each 
side light brown on the middle part, the base and the tip 
white. 
