GENUS 93, STERNA. TERN. 

 SPECIES 1. STERNA HIRUNDO. 



GREAT TERN. 

 [Plate LX. Fig. 1.] 



Arct. Zool. p. 524. JVo. 448. Le pierregarin, ougrande Hiron- 

 delle de mer, BUFF, vin, 331. PL Enl. 987. BEWICK, n, 181. 

 PEALE'S Museum, JVo. 3485.* 



THIS bird belongs to a tribe very generally dispersed over 

 the shores of the ocean. Their generic characters are these : 

 Bill straight, sharp pointed, a little compressed and strong; nos- 

 trils linear; tongue slender, pointed; legs short; feet webbed; 

 hind toe and its nail straight; wings long; tail generally forked. 

 Turton enumerates twenty-five species of this genus, scattered 

 over various quarters of the world ; six of which, at least, are 

 natives of the United States. From their long pointed wings 

 they are generally known to seafaring people, and others resi- 

 ding near the seashore, by the name of Sea Swallows; though 

 some few, from their near resemblance, are confounded with 

 the Gulls. 



The present species, or Great Tern, is common to the shores 

 of Europe, Asia and America. It arrives on the coast of New 

 Jersey about the middle or twentieth of April, led no doubt by 

 the multitudes of fish which at that season visit our shallow bays 

 and inlets. JBy many it is called the Sheep's-head Gull, from 

 arriving about the same time with the fish of that name. 



About the middle or twentieth of May this bird commences 

 laying. The preparation of a nest, which costs most other birds 

 so much time and ingenuity, is here altogether dispensed with. 



* Sterna Ilirundo. GMEJL. Syst. i, p. 600. /m/. Orn. p. 807, No. 15. BRISS. 

 yj, p. 203. pi 19, fig. 1 TEMM. Man. </'Om. j). 740. 



