THE CASPIAN TERN. 2 s 



The nestlings appear about the end of June or beginning of July, clad in 

 pale buffy- or greyish-white down, mottled with grey or brown ; their under surface 

 dull white ; and the bill, legs and feet yellow. 



The plumage of the young birds differs from that of the summer described 

 above, in having the bill orange red, horn coloured at the tip ; the forehead, the 

 crown, the nape and the lores white, streaked with black ; the ear-coverts and 

 orbital patch black ; the mantle mottled and barred with brownish-black ; the 

 wing-coverts and secondaries much marked with brownish-grey ; the tail mottled 

 and barred with brownish-black ; the primaries ash-grey to brown at the tips ; 

 back pearl-grey; rump and upper tail-coverts paler; the entire under surface pure 

 white. 



During the first autumn, and the first spring and summer of the bird's life, 

 a few feathers are probably moulted ; but the change that takes place in the colour 

 of the plumage is due chiefly to a pigment change in the feathers. During this 

 interval the principal change that occurs is the loss of the mottled and barred 

 markings of the mantle and tail. 



Mr. Saunders gives the following description of the young at this season and 

 before its first real moult, which is in the second autumn of its life. Beak dull red, 

 horn coloured at the point ; the lores, the forehead, the nape and the top of the head 

 streaked with white and black, the upper surface of the body varied with patches 

 of ashy-brown and darker transverse bands ; the feathers of the tail have dark 

 ends ; primary quill-feathers also dark ; entire under surface pure white. 



The winter plumage, which results from the autumn moult, is similar to that 

 of the breeding season, but the feathers of the crown of the head and sides of the 

 face are white, broadly centred with black. 



"On the third June," writes Mr. H. Durnford, in the "Ibis" for 1874, " we 

 walked from List, the most northern village on Sylt, to the nesting place of this 

 species on the north-west coast of the island, half-way between the two lighthouses. 

 There were two small colonies, some hundred and fifty yards apart, consisting of 

 about ten and the other of about fifteen pairs of birds. They lay their eggs in 

 the bare sand between the beach and the dunes, in a slight hollow about the size 

 of an Oyster- Catcher's nest, occasionally lining it with a few pieces of shell, 

 no nest (and we saw about a dozen) containing more than two eggs, which is not 

 to be wondered at, as they are robbed by boys from List on every possible occasion. 

 There were about ten eggs on the ground, two nests with two each, others con- 

 taining a single egg apiece, and a few empty The Caspian Tern is an 



exceedingly handsome bird, its bright red bill, when circling over one's head, 

 contrasting well with the dark coloured legs. Whilst approaching the nesting 



VOL. VI E 



