THE BLACK TERN. 755 
is probable that the migratory movement is rather compact, and that the birds 
do not always come closer than the outer coast. 
A most interesting fact in connection with the life history of this species 
has recently come to light. While the bird breeds in the northern portions of 
the northern hemisphere, it summers (1. e. Antarctically speaking) chiefly 
within the Antarctic Circle. In it, therefore, the migratory instinct is more 
highly developed than in any other creature, and it is the only bird which, in- 
dividually as well as generically, may have distanced both Peary and Gleason. 
No. 303. 
BEACK TERN. 
A. O. U. No. 77. Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis (Gmel.). 
Description.—4dult in swimmer: Head and neck all around, and underparts 
sooty black; the crissum white, and the edges and lining of wings white or pale 
pearl gray; underparts plumbeous, darker on upper back, where it blends thru 
slate with black cervix; primaries not different on exposed webs, the inner webs, 
however, dusky, lightening on the inner half, and the shafts white; tail slightly 
forked; bill and feet black. Adult in winter: Lighter, the black replaced by white, 
save on back of head, orbits, and auriculars, where obscurely persistent; upper- 
parts deep pearl gray. IJmmature: Like adult in winter, but upperparts more 
or less tinged and tipped with brownish, and sides washed with grayish. Length 
9.00-10.25 (228.6-260.4) ; wing 8.00 (203.2); tail 3.00 (76.2); bill 1.04 (26.4) ; 
tarsus .67 (17). 
Recognition Marks.—Chewink to Robin size, but appearing about Killdeer 
size; sooty black and plumbeous coloration distinctive in breeding plumage; dark 
pearly gray of upperparts with black bill (and feet), with small size sufficiently 
distinctive at other seasons. 
Nesting.—Nest: in marshes, on the ground, or on broken-down reeds, old 
Grebe nests, old musk-rat houses, and the like. Eggs: 2 or 3, sometimes 4, gray- 
ish olive, or pale brownish, heavily spotted and blotched with blackish brown, the 
markings sometimes confluent at larger end. Av. size, 1.35 x .98 (34.3 x 24.9). 
Season: c. June 10; one brood. 
General Range.——Temperate and tropical America. From Alaska and the 
Fur Countries to Brazil, breeding from the middle United States, west of the 
Alleghanies northward. 
Range in Washington.—Common summer resident in marshes on the larger 
lakes of the East-side; casual on Puget Sound (one record: Aug. 26, 1899, 
Nooksack Marsh, near Bellingham, by J. M. Edson). 
Authorities.—|‘“Black tern,” Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T. 1884 (1885), 23.] 
Johnson (Roswell H.), Condor, Vol. VIII. Jan. 1906, p. 27. T. E. 
Specimens.—U. of W. P. Prov. E. 
