THE TERNS 



[ORDER : Charadriiformes. FAMILY : Laridce. SUBFAMILY : Sternince] 

 PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



[F. C. R. JOTTRDAIN. F. B. KIRKMAN. W. P. PYORAFT. A. L. THOMSON] 



BLACK-TERN [Hydrochelidon nigra (Linnaeus). Starn or stern, black-kip, 

 coal-kip, blue-darr, carr-swallow, carr-crow. French, guifette noire ; German, 

 schwarze Seeschwalbe ; Italian, mignattino~\. 



I. Description. The black-tern is to be distinguished from its congeners, 

 when in its summer dress, by its pale grey under wing-coverts, upper tail-coverts and 

 tail, and black bill ; in winter plumage it resembles the whiskered-tern, having the 

 rump grey, like the back, but it differs from the whiskered-tern in its smaller size, 

 more slender bill, and in having the webs of the toes less deeply encased. (PI. 98.) 

 The sexes are alike. Length 9'5 in. [241*30 mm.]. In summer the head, neck, and 

 breast are black, the rest of the upper parts dark slate-grey, paler on the wing- 

 coverts, which along the carpal bend of the wing are white ; the shafts of the 

 primaries are white. The upper tail-coverts and tail feathers are of a pale slate 

 colour. The under parts are leaden grey, the hinder flank and under tail-coverts 

 white. Beak black, feet and toes reddish brown. After the autumn moult the 

 forehead is white, the hinder crown and nape black but " frosted " with white, 

 and the side of the face, neck, a collar round the hind-neck, and the under parts 

 are white, more or less intermixed with grey. In the juvenile (fledgling) dress the 

 crown, sides of the face, and interscapulars are sooty black, in some cases slaty black ; 

 the wings light slate, the coverts being tipped with dark brown, while the whole of 

 the exposed portions of the inner secondaries are of a dark brown ; the primaries have 

 each very narrow white lines along the inner web, and the tail feathers are tipped 

 with brown. The under parts are white, but the upper flanks are slate-grey. This 

 is succeeded by a plumage in which the mantle and wings are French grey, strongly 



