I OS 



BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 



27 [71] Sterna paradisaea Briinn. 

 Arctic Tern. 



Uncommon transient visitor, formerly summer resident ; spring ; August 

 10 to September. 



Mr C. J. Maynard tells me that he found this bird between 1868 and 1872 

 breeding in the dunes at Ipswich, back of the beach. In his Naturalist's Guide 

 (p. 145) he gives measurements of five adults, two young of the year, and one 

 fledgling shot at Ipswich in July, 1868 and 1869. He with Allen 2 found the 

 young at Ipswich just able to leave the nest. Arctic Terns were found breeding 

 on the islands in Beverly Harbor in 1846. 2 It is probable that in the Common 

 Tern colony on Egg Rock off Manchester, previously described, there were a 

 few Arctic Terns, for the two species frequently breed together to-day on the 

 Maine coast. 



The habits of the Arctic Tern are similar to those of the Common Tern. 

 When the two species are calling together it is difficult to distinguish the charac- 

 teristic cries of the Arctic Tern. On favorable occasions, however, one may 

 hear its jerky, squealing call. The call ends with a te-arr similar to that of the 

 Common Tern. 



Adult Arctic Terns can be distinguished from Common Terns by the fact 

 that their bills are of a uniform deep red, devoid of the black tips possessed by 

 the Common Terns. The tail is slightly longer and the under parts grayer. 

 These differences can be made out only at close range or within fifty to a hun- 

 dred yards. I have, however, distinguished the two species with a telescope in 

 a good light at the distance of several hundred yards. 



28 [72] Sterna dougalli Montag. 

 Roseate Tern. 



Rare transient visitor; formerly summer resident. 



Samuel Cabot 3 reported the Roseate Tern as breeding on the islands in 



1 J. A. Allen : Amer. Nat., vol. 3, p. 643, 1S70. 



2 Samuel Cabot : Proc. Bostou Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 2, p. 179, 1846. 



3 Samuel Cabot : Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 2, p. 179, 1846. 



