530 LARID.E. 



among the Birds of the United States by the ornithologists 

 of that country, the Sterna plumbea of Wilson is now with 

 good reason believed to be the young of Sterna fissipis, or 

 nigra, as it is also called, in the plumage of its first autumn, 

 and identical with the Sterna ntevia of Pennant. 



An adult male specimen in its summer plumage has the 

 beak reddish-brown ; the irides greyish-black ; the head, 

 neck, and middle of the back black, the feathers becoming 

 lighter in colour towards the rump; upper tail-coverts 

 and tail-feathers white ; anterior portion of the outside of 

 the wing white, passing into a light grey on the larger 

 wing-coverts ; the first, second, third, and sometimes as 

 many of the first five of the primary wing-feathers black, the 

 number depending on age, these have all white shafts, 

 and with a considerable portion of white along the base of 

 the broad inner web ; the other primaries light grey ; the 

 secondaries, tertials, and the scapulary feathers slate-grey. 

 The chin, neck in front, breast, belly, sides, and flanks 

 black ; under wing-coverts some black, others slate-grey ; 

 under tail-coverts, and under surface of the tail-feathers 

 white ; legs, toes, and their membranes pale yellow in the 

 preserved bird, coral red in the living bird ; the claws 

 black, the interdigital membranes very much indented, 



The whole length of the specimen described nine inches 

 and a half ; the wing from the anterior joint to the end of 

 the first primary, which is tk<. longest in the wing, eight 

 inches and a quarter. 



