BIRDS OF KANSAS. 31 



tip usually paler; mouth orange; edges of eyelids black; iris dark brown; legs 

 and feet very fine orange red, the claws black. Adult, in winter: Similar, but 

 the head and neck white, the occiput and nape more or less tinged with grayish, 

 the sides of the head marked by a broad space of black surrounding the eyes 

 and extending back over the auriculars. Tail less deeply forked than in sum- 

 mer, the outer rectrices broader and less elongated. Young, first plumage: 

 Similar to the winter plumage, but the pileum, nape, back scapulars, tertials 

 and wing coverts overlaid by a wash of raw-umber brown, chiefly on the ends 

 of the feathers, but appearing nearly uniform on the back and crown; sides of 

 the breast tinged with the same. Rectrices all distinctly dusky terminally, 

 especially on inner webs ( the outer web of the lateral feather hoary white to 

 the tip), the middle feathers tipped with raw umber. Bill dusky, more brown- 

 ish on basal portion of the mandible; legs and feet light brown in the dried 

 skin. Dmcny young: Prevailing color light brownish buff, the breast and abdo- 

 men white; lower surface entirely immaculate, but upper parts coarsely and 

 irregularly marbled with black, the sides of the head with a few scattered 

 irregular minute markings of the same. Length about 3.50 inches, the culmeii 

 .35 of an inch." 



Stretih of 

 Length. -w.ng. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. Bill. 



Male 17.50 31.50 10.25 8.00 .90 1.60 



Female... 15.25 30.00 9.75 6.50 .90 1.50 



This species, with their slender bodies and long, pointed 

 wings (like all of the family), sail through the air as lightly as 

 a kite, and rest as buoyantly as a feather upon the water. 

 Delicate, attractive birds in any position, and especially so while 

 feeding upon the wing, coursing with easy, varied motions over 

 the water, with their bills pointed downward at a right angle 

 with the body; scanning closely every object beneath, and pick- 

 ing up here and there a tiny fish, a floating insect, or any choice 

 morsel at or near the surface; never plunging beneath the sur- 

 face, but dropping swiftly upon the water, or lightly swooping 

 down and picking up as they go; sometimes patting the water 

 with their feet. 



They breed in communities and are largely gregarious 

 throughout the year, collecting in numbers at eve and resting 

 during the night on the sandy beach of an island or point of 

 land extending well out into the water. 



The birds are quite common upon both coasts, as well as in 

 the interior, but are not usually so reported, as they are gener- 

 ally taken by the casual observer for Sterna hirundo, which 

 they so closely resemble. 



