44 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS EGGS. 



77. Black Tern. Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis. 



Range. Temperate America, breeding from the middle portions o-f the United 

 States northward to Alaska ; south in winter beyond the United States border. 



The identity of these Terns cannot be mistaken. They are but ten inches in 

 length ; the whole head, neck and under parts are black ; the back, wings and 

 tail are .slity and the under tail coverts are white. Their dainty figure with their 

 long slender wings gives them a grace and airiness, 

 if possible, superior to other species of the family. 

 They are very active and besides feeding upon all 

 manner of marine Crustacea, they capture many 

 insects in the air. They nest in large colonies in 

 marshes, both along the coast and in 

 the interior, making a nest of decayed reeds and 

 grasses, or often laying their eggs upon rafts of 

 decayed vegetation which are floating on the water. 

 The nesting season commences in May, they 

 laying three eggs of a brownish or greenish color, 

 very heavily blotched with blackish brown. Size 

 1.85 x .95. Data. Winnebago City, Minn., May 

 31, 1901. Three eggs. Nest made of a mass of weeds and rushes floating on 

 water in a swamp. Collector, R. H. Bullis. 



[Deep greenish brown J 



[78.] White- winged Black Tern. Hydrochelidon leucoptera. 



Range. Eastern Hemisphere, its addition to Ameri- 

 can birds being made because of the accidental 

 appearance of one bird in Wisconsin in 1873. They 

 nest very abundantly among the lakes and marshes 

 of southern Europe, placing their eggs the same as 

 the American species upon masses of decayed reeds 

 and stalks. They lay three eggs which have a some- 

 what brighter appearance than the common Black 

 Terns because of a somewhat lighter ground color. 



Noddy. Anous stolidus. 



Range. Tropical America, north 

 to the Gulf and South Atlantic 

 States. A peculiar but handsome 

 bird (about fifteen inches long,) 

 with a silvery white head and the 

 rest of the plumage brownish, and 

 the tail rounded. They breed in 

 abundance on some of the Florida 

 Keys, the West Indies and the 

 Bahamas. Their nests are made of 

 sticks and grass, and are placed 

 either in trees or on the ground. 

 They lay but a single egg with a 

 buffy or cream colored ground spot- 

 ted with chestnut and lilac. Size 

 2.00x1.30. Atwood's Key, Bahamas, 

 June 1, 1891. Nest made of sticks 

 and grasses, three feet up a mangrove. 



[Buff.] 

 Collector, D. P. Ingraham. 



