546 LARIDJ3. 



inches in length, by one inch and a half in breadth, have 

 a smooth shell, the ground colour a pale cream, sparingly 

 marked with various tints of lightish umber, and lighter 

 marks of purple. Now and then a male bird would come 

 and settle close by the nest, immediately disgorging a 

 small fish within the reach of the female. After some 

 reciprocal nods of their heads, which were doubtless in- 

 tended as marks of affection, the caterer would fly off. 

 However numerous, not the least semblance of a quarrel 

 did I observe between any two of these interesting crea- 

 tures ; indeed, they all appeared like happy members of a 

 single family. These birds assemble here in May, and 

 leave for the south by the end of August." 



The beak is black, the upper mandible slightly curved 

 downwards, the length from the point to the commence- 

 ment of the white feathers at the base one inch and a 

 half ; to the angle of the gape two inches ; the forehead 

 white, ending in a concave curve with a point over each 

 eye ; a black streak from the base of the bill to the eye ; 

 top and sides of the head, occiput, nape, and all the 

 upper surface of the body and wings brownish sooty 

 black, of which the primary quills are the darkest, and 

 the ends of the secondary wing-feathers the lightest in 

 colour on their external edges. The tail deeply forked, 

 each outside tail-feather white on the outer web at the base 

 and at the tip, light brown in the middle, but the whole 

 outer web becomes perfectly white in the adult bird ; 

 chin, cheeks, sides and front of the neck, breast, belly, 

 under surface of the wings, under parts of the body, 

 under tail-coverts, and base of the tail-feathers pure, 

 spotless white ; under surface of the lengthened portion 

 of the tail-feathers ash grey ; legs, toes, and interdigital 

 membranes, black. The whole length of the bird is 

 fourteen inches and a half: wing, from flexure, eleven 



