LAUID.K — THK OULLS AND TKUNS — STERNA. 



299 



stnicturoa, evidently so coiiHtnu'tt'd as to jirotoct tlm c^'^s from the watnr naturally to 

 lie I'XiH'cti'd in a marshy site, rrofVssor K\imli('n writes mis tliat this i)ird visits tho 

 lalic in varying nnmb»'rs, acfordiii},' to the season, arriving ahont the end of April. 

 Tlic jirevaleneo of high winds, floods, and other adverse circumstances has a tendency 

 to make it less abundant in sonm years. 



The eggs in the Smithsonian Collection are from Great Slave Lake, in the extreme 

 north, and from Hog Island, Va., in the extreme southeast. JIow far north on cmr 

 Atlantic coast this species breeds 1 cannot say. 1 have nev(.'r observed it breed- 

 ing farther north than Massachusetts ; but it jtrobably ranges in the summt'r much 

 tiivther. The eggs vary in length from l.oO to 1.75 inches, and in breadth from l.lu 

 111 l.;U); but l.liO is their average breadth, 'llieir ground-color varies from a pale 

 greenish buff to a brownish drab. Their markings are cliieHy of a dark clove-brown 

 color, intermingled with fewer shell-markings of an obscure laveiider-gray. 



Sterna paradisaBa. 



THE ABCTIC TKBR. 



Sfcrim jxiraduirra, niiiJNN. Orn. Hor. 1704, 46 (not of Kkys. k Bi.as. 1840,= •*>, HougnlH). 

 Slcrna hirundo, Piiii'i'.s, Zool. Voy. N. Pole, 1774, 188. — Siiaiu'K & Duks.seu, Hirds Eur. pt. xii. 



(1872). 

 SIrriia vwcrurn, Naum. Isis, 1819, J). 1847. — Lawk, in Hninl'-s B. N. Am. 1858, 862. — BAUm, Cut. 



N. Am. B. 18.')it, no. O'.IO. — Touks, Koy, 1872, 321 ; Check List, 1873, no. 667 ; B. N. W. 1874, 



68.5. — Saitndkks, p. Z. S. 1876, 650. 

 Slcma arctiai, Tk.mm. Mnn. IL 1820, 742. —Sw. & Rich. F. B. A. H. 1831, 414. — Ni-tt. Man. IL 



1834, 275. —All). Oin. Biog. II L 1835, 366, i>L 250 ; Synop. 1839, 319 ; B. Am. VIL 1844, 107, 



1>1. 424. 

 Slcrna hrachylarsa, OitAiiA, Roise. n. Fiiroe, 1830, 218. 

 Sterna hrnchnpn.i. Swains. 15. W. Afr. IL 1837, 252. 

 Skrnn Pikci, Lawk. Ann. Lye. N. Y. VL 1863, 3; in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 853, pi. 95. — Baikd, 



Cat. N. Am. R. 1859, no. 693. 

 Sterna port/and ica, Rinr.w. Am. Nat.VIIL 1874, 433.— Couks, B. N. W. 1874, 691. 

 Slcrna longipcnnia, Couivs, Cheek List, 1873, no. 568 (= S. Pikci, Lawu.) ; nee longipcnnis, Nokdm. ! 



Had. Northern hemisjihere in general ; in America, south to the Middle States and Cali- 

 foinia, bri'i'ding from tiie Nortiiurn States to about latitude 81° M (Smith's Sound ; Feilden, 

 "Jbis," 1877, p. 408). No valid Central American, South American, or West Indian record. 



\ 



n 

 m 



■ I* I 



! ■ 



Sp. Char. Advlt, in summer: Pileum and nape, including upper two thirds of the lores, deep 

 black. Prevailing color pearl-gray, paler on the lower surface, still paler on the throat and chin, 

 the side of the head, bonlering the black of the hood, distinctly white. Tips of the secondaries 

 ami tertials, upper and under tail-coverU, greater portion of the tail, and entire lining of the v.ing 



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