STERNIN^E. STERNA. 231 



yellowish ; feet black, with the soles yellow ; tarsus an inch 

 and a twelfth long ; tail much forked, shorter than the wings. 

 In winter, the upper part of the head and the nape deep black. 

 In summer, these parts white, spotted with black. Throat, 

 cheeks, neck all round, hind part of back, tail, and all the 

 lower parts, white, tinged with rose-colour, which is brighter 

 in summer. Young with the upper part of the head varie- 

 gated with black, white, and pale reddish ; fore-part of back 

 and scapulars reddish, barred with blackish-brown; lower 

 parts white ; bill livid, with the extreme tips yellowish. 



Male, 16, 33, 12, 2 T 8 *, 1 T V, if, i\. Female, 15|, 33. 



This species has a strong and rapid night, and, except when 

 engaged in incubation, is almost constantly on wing all day, 

 uttering at intervals a grating cry, which can be heard at a 

 great distance. It feeds upon small fishes and Crustacea, which 

 it picks up from the water. It arrives about the middle of 

 May, and departs by the end of September. A shallow hole 

 in the sand or turf receives the eggs, which are three, in size 

 about equal to those of the Golden Plover, being two inches 

 and a twelfth long, of a cream or wood-brown colour, blotched 

 with dark-brown and black, together with fainter markings. 

 The species is very extensively dispersed along the coasts of 

 both continents. With us, it is chiefly in the south-eastern 

 parts of England that it occurs, but 1 have also obtained 

 several specimens from the mouth of the Frith of Forth. 

 Smaller and less robust than the Caspian Tern, it is consi- 

 derably larger and stouter than the Common and Roseate 

 Terns, from which it is at once distinguishable by its black, 

 yellow-tipped bill. 



Sterna Cantiaca, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. 606. Sterna Boysii, 

 Lath. Ind. Ornith. ii. 806. Sterna Cantiaca, Temm. Man. 

 d'Ornith. ii. 735. Sterna Cantiaca, Sandwich Tern, Mac Gil- 

 livray, Brit. Birds, v. 



291. STERNA HIRUNDO. COMMON TERN. 



Bill about the same length as the head, rather slender, 

 bright coral-red, towards the end black, the tip light yellow; 

 feet coral-red ; tarsus ten-twelfths long ; wings slightly longer 

 than the tail, which is very deeply forked. In winter the 

 upper anterior part of the head white, the hind part dusky. 

 In summer the upper part of the head, and the hind-neck 

 half-way down, deep bluish-black, anteriorly tinged with 

 brown ; sides of head, fore-neck, and lower parts, white, the 

 breast slightly tinged with greyish-blue ; back, scapulars, and 

 wing-coverts, light greyish-blue ; edges of wings, rump, and 



