60 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



are very variable, being olive brown, olive gray, whitish or 

 bufF and marked, blotched or very often wreathed with brown, 

 black, lilac and chocolate. From June 10 to the end of the 

 month is the usual time for deposition of eggs but in cases 

 where the birds have been disturbed fresh eggs have been found 

 as late as August 19- Three eggs from Ship Island, Penob- 

 scot Bay, June 19, 1896, measure 1.62x1.20,1.59x1.20, 

 1.60 X 1.17. Their food consists of small fish in the main part 

 which they catch by swooping down into the water and greedily 

 devouring them. I have seen a Tern pursue a Pap'iUo turnus 

 (our common yellow swallow-tail butterfly) for a considerable 

 distance, finally catching it and devouring it with seemingly a 

 great relish, so it seems apparent that they do eat insect food. 



71. Sterna paradiswa 'Qvxvnn. Arctic Tern. 



Plumage in summer adults: similar to that of the Common Tern from 

 which it chiefly differs as follows : tail longer and somewhat deeper cleft 

 apparently ; less gray on shaft part of inner web of outer primaries ; bill 

 shorter and without black tip ; tarsus shorter. In immature and winter 

 plumages the best means of distinction are the measurements of the tarsus. 

 Wing 10.00 to 11.00 ; culmen 1.28 ; tarsus 0.55 to 0.65. 



Geog. Dist. — Northern hemisphere, breeding in North America from Massa- 

 chusetts far northward and wintering from Virginia and California southward. 



County Records. — Cumberland ; summer resident, (Brown, C. B, P., p. 34). 

 Hancock ; summer resident, locally present in limited numbers in breeding 

 colonies with the Common Tern, but not always found in every such colony, 

 among the outer islands, (Knight). Knox; common in 1899 at the Fox 

 Islands, (Howe, J. M. 0. S. 1900, p. 28). Lincoln; still quite common and 

 breeding in 1895, (Norton). Piscataquis; migrant about the lakes, (Homer). 

 Sagadahoc ; breeds, (Spinney). Washington; abundant, (Boardman). 



Metinic Green, Machias Seal Islands and Matinicus Rock 

 are probably the chief breeding grounds of this species along 

 our coast, its associates being large numbers of Common Terns. 

 A few also breed among their allies in the Penobscot Bay col- 

 onies. Their migration and nesting habits are almost identical 

 with their associated relatives, Three eggs taken at St. George, 

 June 28, 1890, from a slight depression in the sand measure 

 1.61x1.15, 1.70x1.18, 1.57x1.18. 



