GULLS AND TERNS: Family Laridae [ 303 ] 



Common Tern: 



Sterna hinmdo hirundo Linnaeus 



DESCRIPTION. "Outer web of outer tail feather dusky, inner web white. Adults in 

 summer: bill and feet bright orange red, the bill tipped with black; top of head 

 black; mantle light pearl gray; tail and its coverts mainly white; throat white, 

 breast light gray. Adults in winter: crown mainly white; under parts pure white; bill 

 and feet duller. Young: marked with blackish around eyes and on back of head; 

 forehead and under parts white; back light gray with buffy edgings to feathers and 

 dusky spots on wings; bill and feet brownish or pale reddish." (Bailey) Downy 

 young: "The commonest type is 'cream buff,' 'ochraceous buff,' or 'clay colored' 

 above, irregularly mottled with 'sepia' or 'seal brown'; the throat is sometimes 

 'smoke gray" but more often 'drab' or 'sepia'; and the under parts are pure white." 

 (Bent) Si%e: "Length 13-16, wing 9.75-11.75, bill 1.2.5-1.50, tail 5-7, forked for 

 about 3.50." (Bailey) Nest: Often merely a slight hollow in the sand, though some- 

 times lined with bits of vegetation. Eggs: 3 or 4, ground color buff or brown, quite 

 heavily spotted or blotched with darker browns. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds on Gulf coast and in Old World and from Nova 

 Scotia south to North Carolina on the east coast and northwest to Great Slave Lake 

 south to Minnesota, North Dakota, and Alberta. Winters in South America in our 

 hemisphere. In Oregon: Rare straggler. Listed on basis of two specimens. 



THE COMMON TERN can be distinguished from the much more abundant 

 Forster's Tern only by careful examination of the bird in hand, when the 

 difference in the color of the tail feathers, as indicated in the description, 

 will classify the birds. It is one of the most widely distributed North 

 American water birds but gains a place in the Oregon list on the basis of 

 two specimens only, both collected by Kalmbach at Ontario, Malheur 

 County, in 192.0. On October 3, 192.0, several of these birds were flying 

 over the Snake River, and Kalmbach collected one, a female (Gabrielson 

 Coll. No. 399). Because of its puzzling appearance, he went back the 

 next day and took another specimen (Biol. Surv. Coll. No. 2.72., 3 62.). 

 Although these two are the only definite Oregon records, this species 

 should be looked for in eastern Oregon in the spring and fall, where there 

 is no reason why it should not be a more or less regular migrant, par- 

 ticularly along the Snake and Columbia Rivers. It has been reported as 

 nesting on some of the sand islands in the Columbia River in Washington 

 and should occur in Oregon also in similar situations. On several June 

 days we have noted small terns that may well have been this species 

 flying over the Columbia near Umatilla but have had no opportunity to 

 take specimens. 



Arctic Tern: 



Sterna paradisaea Brunnich 



DESCRIPTION. "Outer web of outer tail feather dusky, rest of tail white. Adults in 

 summer: bill carmine, feet vermilion, bill without black tip; top of head black, 

 bordered by white superciliary; body clear deep gray. Adults in winter: under parts 



