304 



LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS — LONGIPENNES. 



t i 5 



ii' t \ 



^m 



!, 



renmiiiing quills light silvery gray, the inner web Ijroadly etlgoil with while. Lateral and Iowlt 

 part of head and neck (including lower hall' of the lores and extreme lower part of tlie nape), with 

 entire lower parts, pure white, strongly tinged in fresh specimens with delicate rose-pink. ISill 

 black (reddish basally, in life) ; iris l)rown ; legs and feet briglit red (in life). Adult in v:intir: 

 Similar, but forehead and anterior part of crown white, the latter shaded with grayish and inilis- 



Summer plumage. 



tinctly streaked with darker ; orbital region, occiput, and upper part of nape uniform black. 

 Young, first ■plurtuu/e : Pileum and nape pale buffy grayish, finely mottled or sprinkled with darker, 

 and streaked, especially on the crown, with dusky ; orbital and auricular regions dusky blackish ; 

 remainder of the head, extreme lower part nf the nape, and entire lower parts, white, tlie nape, ainl 

 sometimes the sides of the breast, finely mottled with bully gray. Back, scapulars, wing-covcils, 

 rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail, pale pearl-blue, the back and scapulars overlaid with pale bulf, 



I £ 2.k 



' I H.} 



Winter pin magi: 



irregularly mottled with dusky, each feather with a submarginal duskj' V-shaped mark ; jiriniarv 

 coverts and primaries darker bluish gray, edged with paler, the inner webs of the latter broiuUy 

 edged with white. Tail-feathers marked near their ends much like the longer scapulars, tlnir 

 outer webs rather dark grayish. Bill browni.sh dusky ; feet duslvy. 



Total length, about 14.00 to 15.50 inclies ; extent, 30.00; wing, 9.25-0.75 ; tail, 7.25-7.75, 

 the depth of its fork, 3.50-4.50 ; culmen, 1.50 ; depth of bill at base, .35 ; tarsus, .85 ; middle 

 toe, .75. 



The beautiful Koseate Tern is almost cosmopolitan in its widely extended geo,£Tra]>li- 

 ical distribution ; but in North America it ajipeavs to be confined to the Atlantic 

 Region, as I find no reference to its existence on any part of the I'acific coast ; nor 

 does any writer mention meeting with it in the interior. It is also exclusively 

 maritime in its residence. 



Mr. Salvin found a few birds of this species breeding among the Keys on the coa.st 

 of Honduras late in April, but makes no mention of it as occurring on the west coast. 

 Leotaud refers to it as being a common bird in Trinidad, and as having habits nearly 



