BIRDS OF 



paradisaea; bill, i (i if), and about 2-5 deep at base (in hirundo rarely if 

 ever so deep); tarsus seldom down to ; whole foot, about 2. Little or no 

 plumbeous wash below ; inner web of the outer tail feather darker^than outer 

 web of the same Young and winter birds may be distinguished from hirundo 

 at gunshot range ; the black cap is almost entirely wanting, and in its place 

 is a broad black band an each side of the head through the eye ; several 

 lateral tail feathers are largely dusky on the inner webs ; their outer webs are 

 white. 



HAB. North America generally, breeding from Manitoba southward, in 

 the United States to Virginia, Illinois, Texas, and California ; in winter 

 southward to Brazil. 



Eggs, two to three, drab, blotched and spotted with brown of different 

 shades. 



Said to breed in suitable places from Texas to the Fur coun- 

 tries ; on Lake Ontario it is only a casual visitor in spring and 

 fall, but it breeds abundantly in the marshes along the River 

 St. Clair. In general appearance it bears a close resemblance 

 to the next species, but the difference is readily seen by referring 

 to the peculiar markings of the tail feathers. 



23. STERNA HIRUNDO LINN. 70. 

 Common Tern. 



Bill red, blackening on the terminal third, the very point usually light , 

 feet coral red. Mantle pearly grayish-blue ; primary shafts white except at the 

 end ; below white, washed with pale pearly plumbeous blanching on throat 

 and lower belly. Tail mostly white, the outer web of the outer feather dark- 

 er than inner web of the same. Length of male, 14^ (1316) ; extent, 31 

 (29-32); wing, io (9f--nf); tail, 6 (5-7); tarsus, f (--); bill, i--i& ; whole 

 foot, averaging if ; female rather less; averaging toward these minima ; young 

 birds may show a little smaller, in length of tail particularly, and so of total 

 length ; length, 12 or more ; wing, 9 or more ; tail, 4 or more; bill, i or more 

 In winter this species does not appear to lose the black-cap, contrary to a 

 nearly universal rule. Young: Bill mostly dusky, but much of the under 

 mandible yellowish; feet simply yellowish ; cap more or less defective ; back 

 and wings patched and barred with grey and light brown, the bluish showing 

 imperfectly if at all, but this color shading much of the tail ; usually a blackish 

 bar along the lesser coverts, and several tail feathers dusky on the outer web ; 

 below, pure white, or with very little plumbeous shade. 



HAB. Greater part of Northern hemisphere and Africa. In North 

 America chiefly confined to the Eastern Province, breeding from the Arctic 

 coast, somewhat irregularly, to Florida and Texas, and wintering northward 

 to Virginia. 



42 



