CRESTED TERN. 431 



sion, very hard. The head and neck were very big 

 in proportion. 



It is mentioned to me as one of the constant fre- 

 quenters of the Pedro Kays. 



FAM. LARID^. (The Gulls.) 

 CRESTED TERN.* 



White Egg-Bird. " 

 Thalasseus Cayanus. 



. f - Sterna Guyana., GMKL. Aud. pi. 273. 



Thalasseus Cayanus, BOIE. 



THIS large and beautiful Tern is the most common 

 species we have in the vicinity of Bluefields. Its 

 powerful beak of a bright orange hue, its pointed 

 occipital crests of black, the pearly tint of its upper, 

 and the satiny lustre of its under parts, constitute it 

 a species of much beauty. In the autumn months 

 we may frequently see this bird fishing. A quarter 

 of a mile from the shore, off Crabpond Point, there is 

 a reef, above which it may be seen almost every day. 

 Quite solitary in his habits, the Crested Tern prefers 

 to fish alone ; and though sometimes two or three 

 may be in view at once, there is no association, no 

 accordance of movement, as in the Pelicans. High 

 above the water, we discern a bird, the snowy white- 



* Length 21 inches, expanse 45, flexure 14, tail 7, rictus 3^y, tar- 

 sus l-jk, middle toe 1^. Two caeca inch long. 



