320 LARIDA, TERNS. — 289-92. 
California, Mexico, Cent. and S. Am., and Africa. S. galericulata Licut., 
Verz. 1823, 81; WS. elegans Gamp., Proc. Phila. Acad. 1848, 129; Lawr. 
in Bp. 860; TLhalasseus elegans Cours, 1. c. 540. . . . GALERICULATA. 
-Sandwich Tern. Bill black, tipped with yellow. Plumage as in regius 
or galericulata, but mantle extremely pale; smaller; length 15-16; wing 
about 12; tail 5-6 ; bill 
. 2-24, the yellow part 
from ? of an inch to a 
mere point; tarsus 1; 
middle toe and claw 14. 
Atlantic and Gulf Coast 
of U. S., abundant. 
Europe. S. boystt 
Nutr., ii, 276; S. can- 
tiaca AwD., vii, 87, pl. 
431; S. acuflavida Cazot, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 1847, 257; Lawr. 
in Bo., 860; Thalasseus acuflavidus Couns, 1. c. 540. . . . CANTIACA. 
Fic. 202. Sandwich Tern. 
+} Occiput not crested. Feet not black. Medium and small. (Sterna.) 
Common Tern. Wilson's Tern. Sea Swallow. Bill red, blackening on 
the terminal third, the very point usually light; feet coral-red. Mantle 
pearly grayish-blue ; primary shafts white except at the end; below white, 
washed with pale pearly plumbeous, blanching on throat and lower belly. 
Tail mostly white, the outer web of the outer feather darker than the inner 
web of the same. Length of g 144 (13 to 16); extent 31 (29-32) ; wing 
104 (93-112) ; tail 6 (5-7); tarsus 2 (§-%); bill 12 (14-4); whole foot 
averaging 13; 9 rather less; averaging toward these minima: young birds 
may show a little smaller, in length of tail particularly, and so of total length ; 
length 124-; wing 9++; tail 44+-; bill 14+. In winter, this species does not 
appear to lose the black cap, contrary to a nearly universal rule. Young: 
bill mostly 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. N. Am., abundant; breeds at various 
points along the Atlantic States, and northward. It does not differ in the 
least from the European. S. hirundo Wis., vii, 76, pl. 60, f. 1; AuD., vii, * 
97, pl. 483; Nurr., ii, 271; S. wilsont Lawr. in Bp., 861. . MHrRUNDO. 
Forster's Tern. like the last; larger, tail longer and wings shorter. 
Wing of adult 93-103; tail 63-8, thus often beyond the extreme of hirundo, 
and nearly as in macroura; bill 13 (14-1}), and about 2 deep at base 
(in hirwndo rarely if ever so deep) ; tarsus seldom down to §; whole foot 
about 2. Little or no plumbeous wash below; inner web of the outer tail 
feather darker than the outer web of the same. Young and winter birds 
may be distinguished from /Adrundo at gunshot range ; the black cap is almost 
