STERNA HIRUNDO : WILSON S TERN. 359 



black ; quills silver dusky with long white stripe ; tail mostly 

 white, the outer web of the outer feather darker than the inner 

 web of the same. Length of male, 13.00-16.00; extent, 29.00- 

 32.00; wing, 9.75-1 1.75 ; tail, 5.00-7.00; tarsus, 3.66-3.87; bill, 

 1. 25-1. 50 ; whole foot averaging 1.75. Female rather less, aver- 

 aging toward these minima. Young birds may show a little 

 smaller, in length of tail particularly, and so of total length : 

 length, i2-[-; wing, g-\-; tail, 4-|-; bill, i.i2-[-. In winter, this 

 species does not appear to lose the black cap, contrary to a 

 nearly universal rule. Young : bill mosti v dusky, but much of 

 the under mandible yellowish; feet simply yellowish ; cap more 

 or less defective ; back and wings patched and barred with gray 

 and light brown, the bluish showing imperfectly if at all, but this 

 color shading much of the tail ; usually a blackish bar along the 

 lesser coverts, and several tail-feathers dusky on the outer web ; 

 below, pure white, or with very little plumbeous shade. 



This is one of the four species of Terns which breed 

 abundantly on the coast of New England, no others of 

 our thirteen species being known to pass the summer 

 season with us. It is on the whole the most numerous 

 of all ; and as its habits are the same as those of several 

 of its allies, with which it associates during the period 

 of incubation, one description will answer for all. In 

 preference to penning a new account, we select for the 

 pleasure of our readers the charming narrative given by 

 Mr. William Brewster (Bull. Nutt. Club, iv, 1879, P- i^)- 



During the latter part of May, " a few days after the 

 advent of the ' Little Strikers,' as the Least Terns are 

 called by the 'longshoremen of Virginia, the Wilson's 

 and Roseate Terns begin to appear. They are already 

 paired, but, judging by the occasional bickerings and 

 jealousies that arise, even the more sedate females are 

 not above a little harmless flirtation. It is a pretty 

 sight to see the mated birds sitting side by side upon 

 some long sand-spit, all with their breasts turned to the 



