15° NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



black, silvered on the inner edge and the shafts white toward the base; 

 lining of wings and extreme edge of lesser wing coverts ashy white ; under 

 tail coverts pure white; bill black; moiith lake red; feet reddish brown; 

 iris brown. In winter: Head, neck and under parts white, marked on the 

 crown, nape, eye and ear region with blackish ; patches of black in the white 

 while moulting. Immature: Resemble adults in winter plumage, but the 

 upper parts are more or less washed or marked with brown, especially on 

 the back, which is quite brown in the interscapular region ; sides more or less 

 ashy brown. 



Length 9-10.25 inches; extent 23-25; wing 8.25; tail 3.3-3.75, forked 

 .9; bill I.I, depth .25; gape 1.6; tarsus .66; middle toe and claw .95. 



Distinctive marks. This bird should not be mistaken for any of our 

 other terns, for its general structure is quite different, belonging as it docs 

 to a separate genus with well marked characters. The bill is very sharp 

 and slender, shorter than the head, longer than the middle toe; angle of 

 gonys very acute ; wings very long, pointed and without distinct markings ; 

 primaries broad, not acute; secondaries not flowing; tail short, only slightly 

 forked, without streamers; feet short and slender, webs deeply incised; 

 colors dark. The young also differs from the Least tern in being larger, 

 browner on the back and tinged with grayish brown on the sides. 



The Black, or Short-tailed tern, is a fairly common migrant on the 

 coast and larger inland waters of New York State. It is chiefl}^ a species 

 of the interior and is consequently somewhat irregular on the Long Island 

 coast, but often appears in flocks of hundreds during the fall migrations. 

 Such flights are recorded in Butcher's Long Island Notes, especially on 

 September i-io, 1882, and September 5, 1884. His dates range from July 

 12 to September 14, there being no spring record for the coast, but Mr W. A. 

 Mead reports it for Carmel, Putnam county, April 9th, 1896. In western 

 New York it makes its appearance late in April — April 27 (Erie, Pa.), 

 April 28 (Canandaigua), and "April 1893 " (Utica). It occurs on all the inland 

 lakes, most commonly in the fall from August 12 (Cohoes), August 17 

 (Canandaigua) and August 18 (Schroon lake) to September 30 (Penn Yan) 

 and October 2 (Niagara river). It is also a summer resident in the marshes 

 at the eastern end of Lake Ontario. 



