300 LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS — LONGIPENNES. 



pure white ; outer web of lateral pair of tail-feathers deep ash-gray, darker terminally, in strong 

 and abrupt contrast with the pure white of the inner web ; outer web of next feather pale pearl- 

 gray. Outer web of outer primary dark slate ; inner webs of all the epulis chiefly white, with a 

 narrow stripe of silvery gray next the shaft ; this stripe gradually widening on the inner feathers, 

 where, near the end of each quill, it runs anteriorly near the inner edge ; three or four inner quills 

 uniform silvery gray, the inner web edged with white. Bill and feet deep carmine-red in life, the 

 former usually without a black tip ; iris brown. Adult, in winter : Similar, but forehead, anterior 

 part of the lores, and crown white, the latter streaked with black ; lower parts white, sometimes 

 with a slight wash of plumbeous. Bill and feet duller red. Young, first plumage : Orbital region, 

 occiput, and posterior part of the crown dull black ; forehead and anterior portion of lores and 

 crown white, the crown mixed with blackish and stained with brownish. Back, scapulars, and 

 wind's pearl-gray, as in the adult, but feathers tipped with pale buff, and marked with a sub- 

 terminal lunule of dusky brown, these markings most distinct on the tertials and longer scapulars, 

 fainter on the back ; primaries and secondaries much as in the adult ; lower part of rump, upper 

 tail-coverts, and entire lower parts white, the sides of the jugulum and breast, as well as the chin 

 and throat, stained with pale dull brownish. Outer webs of rectrices slate-color, paler on middle 

 feathers ; all the rectrices marked at the ends in the same manner as the tertials, but less dis- 

 tinctly. Basal half of bill orange-red, terminal half blackish; feet pale reddish: Downy young : 

 Upper surface pale fulvous or grayish buff (the shade very variable), coarsely and very irregularly 

 marbled with dusky, except on the forehead ; lower parts whitish, distinctly huffy or fulvous on 

 the sides and flanks, the throat and cheeks distinctly uniform dusky or sooty brown. 



Total length, 14.00-17.00 inches ; extent, 29.00-33.00 ; wing, 10.00-10.75 ; tail, 6.50-8.50, the 

 depth of the fork, 4.00-5.00 ; culmen, 1.08-1.40 ; depth of bill at base, .30 ; tarsus, .55-.05 ; 

 middle toe, with claw, .80-85. 



The Arctic Tern very closely resembles the common hirundo both in its general 

 appearance and in its habits ; so that nearly all that may be said in regard to the 

 mode of nesting of the latter, its manner of flight, its cries and restlessness, its social 

 characteristics, its solicitude, for its young, and other traits, will apply with equal force 

 to this species. As its name would imply, the Arctic Tern is by far the more north- 

 ern, in its distribution, of the two species, and is found breeding to the highest point 

 of northern latitude, where the other is found — if at all — only in limited numbers. 

 It may be met with in all the Arctic Eegions of America and the Old World. 



It has been seen occurring in abundance by Mr. Kennicott at Fort Resolution and 

 Fort Yukon; by others at Fort Bae, Anderson Eiver, Slave Eiver, Slave Lake, Buffalo 

 Eiver, Mackenzie Eiver, Fort Simpson, Big Island, and Peel's Eiver; by Mr. MacFar- 

 lane on the Arctic coast ; by Mr. Dall at Franklin Bay, Fort Anderson, Ecndezvous 

 Lake, Swan Islands, the Lower Anderson, and Nulato; by Mr. Bischoff at Kadiak. 



On the eastern coast of America it breeds from Southeastern Massachusetts to 

 the most extreme points of Greenland, in latitude 82° 34', and on the western coast 

 of Europe from Great Britain to Iceland. 



Captain H. W. Feilden (" Ibis," October, 1877) found this species breeding in Smith's 

 Sound at all the localities visited on the route of the expedition. On a small islet off 

 the north end of Bellot's Island (latitude 81° 44') he saw several pair breeding, August 

 21. The land at that time was covered with snow, and on that islet it was three inches 

 deep. In one nest he found a newly hatched Tern, which seemed quite well and lively 

 in its snowy cradle. The parent birds had thrown the snow, as it fell, out of the nest, 

 which was surrounded by a border of snow marked by their feet and raised two inches 

 above the general level. Birds were seen as early as June 1G in 1876, and by the 

 end of that month pairs were scattered at intervals along the coast. A nest scraped 

 in the gravel, containing two eggs, was found June 27; and during the first week in 

 August a pair of young birds, nearly ready U> fly, were seen in latitude 81° 50'. This 

 Tern is included by Dr. Bessels in his list of the birds procured at Polaris Bay. 



