280 ARCTIC TERN. 



occurred in June, when the birds ought to have been 

 breeding. Forty specimens were taken to one bird- 

 stuffer, thirty-three to another. A few common 

 terns were said to be mixed with them, but Mr. 

 Yarrell, who saw several specimens sent up to Lon- 

 don, and who had a good deal of correspondence at 

 the time regarding them, considers that the great 

 proportion of the birds were Arctic Terns. This 

 flight occurred on the 8th and 9th June, 1842 ; and 

 it is stated that some specimens had not acquired 

 the perfect black head. Now, all our birds would 

 be at their stations and in full plumage by that 

 season. May these not have been some almost Arc- 

 tic colony later in assembling, and thus dispersed by 

 the north-west gale which accompanied them ? 



In the Arctic Tern the bill is shorter than in 

 either of the two preceding birds, and is entirely 

 vermilion-red. The tarsus is comparatively shorter, 

 and the leg is feathered to the tarsal joint, whereas 

 in the others a small portion of the tibire are bare ; 

 the forehead and crown not passing below the eye, 

 and terminating in a rounded peak on the back of 

 the neck, deep black ; the back of the neck, mantle 

 and wings grey, the quills having the outer webs 

 and the shaft half of the inner, blackish grey, the 

 outer web of the first black, the shafts of all strong 

 and white. The rump white, the tail rather more 

 deeply forked than the last, the feathers broader, 

 white, except the outer webs of the two on the 

 outside, which are blackish grey ; the under parts 

 white, vent and under tail-covers pale blackish grey. 



