BRITISH BIRDS. . 175 



C>)f ft)c ^ctrns, or Sen SuntUouis.* 



BIRDS of this genus* have generally straight, 

 slender-shaped, and pointed bills: nostrils linear: 

 tongue slender and sharp : their legs are small, the 

 webs deeply scalloped from the toe ends to the 

 middle, and the back toe small : the wings are very 

 long, and the tail forked. t These birds continue 

 long on the wing, and, in their quick and circling 

 evolutions, they rise and sink in the air, or glide 

 along near the surface of the waters, sometimes 

 snapping at the insects in their way, or, suddenly 

 checking their course, darting down upon their 

 finny prey, which they swallow in the ascent, 

 without delaying their progress. Their common 

 residence is the sea-shores, or the mouths of large 

 rivers, whose courses, however, they sometimes 

 ascend nearly to their rise. They also visit loughs 

 and lakes very distant from the ocean, .and like- 

 wise make excursions a long way out to sea. 

 They congregate in large flocks, but particularly in 

 the breeding season, when they are more than 

 usually restless, wheeling and redoubling their 

 varied flight high in the air, and uttering their loud 

 screams in clamorous confusion. Some of the 



* With the Terns commences the order Palmipedes, which in- 

 cludes the following British genera, viz., Sterna, Lams, Lestris, 

 Procellaria, Puffinus, Thalassidroma, Anser, Cygnus, Anas, Mergus, 

 Carbo, Sula, Colymbus, Uria, Mergulus, Mormon, Alca. 



t In the young of some species, the tails are nearly even at 

 the ends. 



