248 MARSH TERN. 



are clearly defined; through the eye a line of black passes down 

 the neck for about an inch, reaching about a quarter of an inch 

 before it; the bill is not so black as in the others; the legs and 

 feet dull orange, smutted with brown or dusky; tips and edges 

 of the primaries blackish; shafts white. 



This species breeds in the salt marshes, the female drops her 

 eggs, generally three or four in number, on the dry drift grass, 

 without the slightest appearance of a nest; they are of a green- 

 ish olive, spotted with brown. 



A specimen of this Tern has been deposited in the Museum 

 of this city. 



