DESCRIPTIVE LIST 39 



Coues mentions seeing a flock of these southern terns near Fort Macon on March 

 16, 1869. An adult male was captured near Raleigh on June 30, 1909, and brought 

 to H. H. Brimley. It was much emaciated, although apparently uninjured. The 

 specimen is preserved in the State Museum. This constitutes the total of our 

 knowledge regarding the appearance of this tropical form within the State. 



Genus Hydrochelidon (Boie) 

 25. Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis (Gmel). BLACK TERN. 



Ads. in summer. Whole head and underparts, except under tail-coverts, black; back, wings, 

 and tail slate-color; bill and feet black. Ads. in winter. Forehead, nape, and underparts white; 

 back of the head black mixed with white; back, wings, and tail deep pearl-gray. Im. Similar 

 to the preceding, but upperparts more or less washed and tipped with brownish; sides washed 

 with grayish. L., 10.00; W., 8.30; T., 3.30; B., 1.00. (Chap., Birds of E. N. A.) 



Range. North and South America. Breeds inland from central Canada to Missouri and 

 California. Coast of United States in autumn; winters southward to Peru and Chile. 



Range in North Carolina. Occurs to a limited extent throughout the State during the 

 migrations, principally, however, in autumn. 



FIG. 18. BLACK TERN. 



The Black Terns are common migrants in North Carolina, occurring in spring, 

 but more abundantly from July to October. In irregular flocks they appear in 

 Pamlico Sound early in July. "I saw them near Ocracoke in considerable num- 

 bers on July 5, 1899. Bishop found them near Pea Island, July 13 and 15, and 

 again August 10-24, 1904. Apparently all pass on to the south before the coming 

 of cold weather. Unlike any other species of North Carolina terns, this one occurs 

 regularly inland, on small bodies of water. H. H. Brimley has recorded one at 

 Raleigh on each of the following dates: July 28, 1884; August 3, 1893; May 10, 

 1898, and April 18, 1907. I found two on Lake Toxaway, in Transylvania County, 

 September 5, 1904, and three at Cone's Lake, Blowing Rock, in July, 1906. Bruner 

 observed a number at Blowing Rock in the summer of 1905. H. H. Brimley saw 

 two at White Lake, Bladen County, May 20, 1909. The movements of this tern 

 when flying over a pond suggest those of the Nighthawk when darting about over 

 the fields of a summer evening, the nearness in size and superficial similarity of 

 color when not in a strong light assisting the resemblance. J. F. Jordan, of Greens- 

 boro, told me that in August, 1905, a Black Tern approached a boat in which he 

 was fishing, at Manchester, in Cumberland County and, striking down, took in its 

 beak the baited hook he was swinging in the air." PEARSON. 



