754 THE ARCTIC TERN. 
No. 302. 
ARCTIC TERN. 
A. O. U. No. 71. Sterna paradiswa Brinn. 
Synonyms.—Parapise TERN. CRIMSON-BILLED TERN. PorTLAND TERN. 
Description.—Adult in breeding plumage: Outer pair of tail-feathers and 
black of head as in preceding; upperparts deep pearl gray, the secondaries, rec- 
trices, feathers of rump, and upper tail-coverts, tipped with white in strong 
contrast; underparts deep lavender-gray, clearing to white only on lower tail- 
coverts and on sides of head adjacent to black cap; bill carmine, sometimes faintly 
tipped with blackish; feet rich carmine. Adult in winter plumage: Similar, but 
underparts white, or tinged with grayish; forehead, fore-crown, and lores, 
anteriorly, white; crown posteriorly streaked or mottled with blackish. /m- 
mature; “Orbital region, occiput, and hind part of crown dull black; forehead, 
anterior part of lores, and crown white, the latter stained with brown and mixed 
with blackish; feathers of dorsal region and wings tipped with pale buff and 
marked with subterminal crescent or lunule of brownish dusky, these markings 
larger on tertials and longer scapulars, and smaller on back; lower rump, upper 
tail-coverts, and entire lower parts, white, the chin, throat, and sides of jugulum 
and breast, stained with pale dull brownish; basal half of bill dull orange-red, 
terminal portion blackish; feet light reddish” (Ridgway). Length of adult: 
14.00-17.00 (355.6-431.8) ; wing 10.00-10.75 (254-273.1); tail 6.50-8.50 (165.1- 
215.9), forked for 4.00-5.00 (101.6-127) ; bill 1.30 (33); tarsus .55-.65 (14-16.5). 
Recognition Marks.—Size of preceding; tail more deeply forked, its outer 
feathers gracefully streaming; bill usually pure carmine. 
Nesting.—Not known to breed in Washington. Nest and Eggs much as in 
preceding species. 
General Range.—Coasts of both hemispheres during migrations, summering 
in the northern hemisphere, chiefly in the Arctic regions, but breeding in North 
America from Massachusetts and British Columbia northward; wintering chiefly 
in Antarctica but also along both coasts of North America. 
Range in Washington.—Probably common, coastwise, during migrations. 
(Apparently no specimens of this species have been taken in Washington, and it 
has not been clearly distinguished from S. hirundo). 
Migrations.—S pring: May? Fall: September (Blaine). 
Authorities.— ? Keck, Wilson Bulletin No. 47, June 1904, p. 34 (“Common 
summer resident”). 
Specimens.—!’roy. 
A LITTLE more graceful, if possible, than the Common Tern, the year- 
ly passing and. re-passing of this species ought to occasion comment. As it 
stands, however, we hesitate to record it at all, since its status rests solely upon 
specimens seen by Mr. Keck and myself. We know that the bird must cross 
our borders, since it breeds upon the Arctic coasts in immense numbers, but it 
