46 
LESSER TERN. 
fly about the second week in July. Audubon says that they 
are fed for a time on the wing by both parents. 
Male; weight, a little over two ounces; length, eight inches 
and a half to nine and a half; the bill, large, strong, and 
nearly straight, is orange yellow, the tip black or dusky; 
between it and the eye is a black mark; iris, deep brown, 
over the eye is a white streak reaching from the forehead. 
Forehead and head on the sides, white, the former extending 
farther back in winter; crown, neck on the back, and nape, 
jet black, less deep in winter; the feathers elongated at the 
back of the head; chin, throat, and breast, white. Back, 
pale soft bluish grey. 
The wings reach to the extent of one foot seven or eight 
inches, and extend, when closed, beyond the end of the tail; 
greater and lesser wing coverts, pale delicate bluish grey; of 
the primaries, the first one, two, or three are blackish grey, 
the inner webs broadly edged with white, the others grey. 
The tail is white, short, and not very much forked; upper 
and under tail coverts, white. Legs and toes, orange yellow; 
webs, orange yellow. 
The female is as the male. 
The young of the year have the bill pale yellowish brown, 
the tip blackish brown; before and behind the eye is a blackish 
mark. Forehead, head on the crown, neck on the back, and 
nape, dull yellowish brown, spotted at the tips of the feathers 
with blackish grey, the latter colour prevailing on the latter- 
named parts; chin, throat, and breast, white; back, pale bluish 
grey, mixed with dull yellowish and barred with dusky black 
near the tip. Primaries, dark blackish grey, the margins of 
the inner webs white; secondaries, grey; tertiaries, grey mar¬ 
gined with blackish grey. Tail, white at the base, and spotted 
towards the end, and tipped with dusky yellowish, and with 
dusky black marks on each web in the middle of the feather. 
Legs and toes, pale yellowish brown; webs, pale yellowish 
brown. 
