TERNS 167 



nest in the grasses. I have never found it in large colonies, but in scat- 

 tered pairs. Its notes are a long-drawn, reedy cackle and a tweet-tweet- 

 tweet-tweet. 



70. Sterna himndo Linn. COMMON TERN (Fig. 24). Ads. in summer. 

 Whole top of head black; back and wings pearl-gray; inner border of 

 inner web of outer primaries white, except at tip (Fig. 79, c); throat white; 

 breast and belly pale pearl-gray; tail white, the outer webs of the outer feathers 

 gray or pearl-gray; bill red at the base, the end third black; feet orange-red. 

 Ads. in winter. Similar, but front part of head and underparts white; bill 

 mostly black. Im. Similar, but back more or less washed or mottled with 

 light brownish; lesser wing-coverts slaty gray, and tail much shorter. L., 

 IS'OO; W., 10-25; T., 5*50; Tar., '75; B., 1'40. 



Range. N. Hemisphere, n. S. Am., and Africa. Breeds from Great 

 Slave Lake, cen. Keewatin, and s. Ungava s. to sw. Sask., n. N. D., s. 

 Wise., n. Ohio, and N. C.; winters from Fla. to Brazil; casual in migration 

 on Pacific coast from B. C. to L. Calif. In E. Hemisphere breeds in Europe 

 and Asia and winters in India and s. Africa. 



Washington, irregular T. V., sometimes common. Long Island, common 

 S. R. on Gardiner's Is., May 20-Oct. 15., Ossining, casual in late summer. 

 Cambridge, very rare T. V. N. Ohio, S. R. in large colonies on islands in 

 Lake Erie, May 5-Sept. 20. Glen Ellyn, irregular, uncommon T. V. May 

 15-Sept. 9. SE. Minn., T. V. 



Remarks. The Common Tern is closely related to Forster's Tern and 

 also to the Arctic Tern. From the former it is to be distinguished by the 

 color of the long outer tail-feathers. In the Common Tern the outer web 

 of these feathers is always darker than the inner web; in Forster's Tern the 

 inner web is always darker than the outer one. Adult Common Terns have 

 the breast and belly washed with pearl-gray, while in Forster's Tern these 

 parts are pure white. 



The Common Tern differs from the Arctic Tern in having the bill tipped 

 with black instead of being entirely red; in having longer tarsi, and in the 

 color of the primaries. 



Nest, a slight depression in the sand, scantily lined with sea-weed or 

 grasses. Eggs, 3-4, not distinguishable with certainty from those of the 

 preceding, but averaging paler and greener, and less heavily marked, 

 1'60 x 1-20. Date, Cobb's Is., Va., May 28; Muskeget Is., Mass., May 28. 



It is many years since I visited my first breeding colony of Common 

 Terns (on Gull Island, L. I.), but I can close my eyes and still feel the 

 air vibrate with the harsh, half-threatening, half-pleading chorus of 

 nearly two thousand excited voices. There is a dull, heavy, hopeless 

 monotone, broken only by the scream of some half-maddened bird 

 who fearlessly darts downward to protect its nest at my feet. A shot 

 is fired; there is a moment of awe-struck silence, then, with renewed 

 violence, the screaming is resumed. Pandemonium reigns: tearr, tearrr, 

 swish! the air is full of darting, diving, crying Terns. It was useless to 

 attempt to secrete myself. At no time during my stay did the outcry 

 cease or hovering flock disperse. 



It was only after I had exchanged a gun for a camera that I learned 

 how quickly Terns will go back to their nest if one will conceal oneself 

 in a blind, which in itself may be conspicuous enough, if it be motion- 

 less. Then one learns that the tearrr note of alarm and protest gives 

 way to a great variety of calls incident to the activities of the birds 

 when not disturbed j for example, a sharp chirp not unlike that of a 



