160 STERNA FULIGINOSA. 



slightly forked; shoulders of the wing, brownish ash; 

 legs and webbed feet, tawny. It had a sharp shrill cry 

 when wounded and taken. 



This is probably the brown tern mentioned by Wil- 

 loughby, of which so many imperfect accounts have 

 already been given. 



251. STERNA FULIGINOSA. GMELIN AND WILSON. 



SOOTY TERN. 

 WILSON, PLATE LXXII. FIG. VII EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 



Tins bird has been long known to navigators, as its 

 appearance at sea usually indicates the vicinity of land ; 

 instances, however, have occurred, in which they have 

 been met with one hundred leagues from shore.* The 

 species is widely dispersed over the various shores of 

 the ocea.. They were seen by Dampier in New 

 Holland, are in prodigious numbers in the island of 

 Ascension, and in Christmas Island are said to lay, in 

 December, one egg on the ground ; the eg is yellowish, 

 with brown and violet spots, -j- In passing along the 

 northern shores of Cuba and the coast of Florida and 

 Georgia, in the month of July, I observed this species 

 very numerous and noisy, dashing down headlong after 

 small fish. I shot and dissected several, and found 

 their stomachs uniformly filled with fish. I could 

 perceive little or no difference between the colours of 

 the male and female. 



Length of the sooty tern, seventeen inches, extent, 

 three feet six inches ; bill, an inch and a half long, 

 sharp pointed and rounded above, the upper mandible 

 serrated slightly near the point ; nostril, an oblong 

 slit, colour of the bill, glossy black; irides, dusky; 

 forehead, as far as the eyes, white ; whole lower parts 

 and sides of the neck, pure white ; rest of the plumage, 

 black; wings, very long and pointed, extending, when 

 shut, nearly to the extremity of the tail, which is greatly 



* Coos, Voyage, I p. 275. f TURTON. 



