I] 
WILSON’S TERN. 547 
DESCRIPTION. 
Adult. — Upper part of the head and hind neck deep-blaek, tinged with brown 
on the front part of the head; back and wings light grayish-blue; first primary 
with the outer web black, on the inner web grayish-black next the shaft, this color’ 
increasing in extent towards the end, where it covers the entire web for about one 
inch, rest of inner web white; the next five primaries are hoary on their outer webs, 
and blackish-gray on the inner next the shaft, occupying the entire web at the end; 
margin of the inner webs white; central tail feathers very pale bluish-gray, the others 
white on the inner webs and dusky-gray on the outer webs, deepening in color from 
the central feathers until it becomes blackish-gray on the lateral ones; sides of the 
head, throat, rump, and under tail coverts, white; breast and abdomen clear pearl- 
gray; bill coral-red, black near the end with the tip yellow; iris hazel; legs and 
feet coral-red, not so dark as the bill; claws brownish-black. 
Length, fourteen and three-quarters inches; wing, ten and three-quarters; tail, 
five and three-quarters; bill, one and three-eighths; tarsus, three-quarters of an 
inch. 
Hab. — Texas to Labrador. 
This is by far the most common species we have in New 
England. It breeds in great abundance all along our coast, 
both on the beach, on the mainland, and on the rocky and 
sandy islands off our shores. In some localities, it is so 
abundant that I have collected in the space of two hours, 
in the area of about thirty acres, a half-bushel of eggs. In 
most localities, it forms no nest, but drops its eggs on the 
sand or on the bare rock. On the island of Muskegeet, I 
found that it invariably scooped out a hollow of two or three 
inches in the sand, in which it laid three or four eggs, 
arranged them with their small ends together in the middle, 
_and built around them a loose nest of seaweeds and grass. 
These eggs are so varied in color and markings, that no 
description of them can be given by which they may be recog- 
nized. In a great number in my collection, the predominat- 
ing color is a reddish-drab, which is marked with numerous 
spots and confluent blotches of different shades of brown, 
and obscure blotches of cinereous. Many specimens are an 
olivaceous-gray, with the same markings; and others are a 
_creamy-buff. Their form is usually exactly ovoidal, and 
their dimensions average about 1.55 by 1.25 inch. 
This species is very irregular in its period of depositing 
its eggs. I have found them as early as the last week in 
