TERNS. 



83 



Egret's 



niilar in 



y on tho 



Lving tho 



ic adult, 



'ar., '65; 



n Massa- 



chusetts to the arctic regions, and wintering southward to Virginia and Cali- 

 fornia" (A. (>. U.i. 



Long Island, rare in pumnier. 



Eijiji*, tliroe to four, not distinguishahle with certainty from those of tho 

 preceding, l"tJ2 x 1-15. 



Comparing tho notes of this bird with those of the Common Torn, 

 Mr. Brewster writes: "Their notes are similar, but several of them 

 can be distinguished. The usual cry of S. macrnra [-zz pamdim'a^ cor- 

 responds to the tvarr of S. hirundo, but is shriller, ending in a rising 

 inflection, and sounding very like the squeal of a pig. The bird also 

 has a short, harsh note similar to that of Forster's Tern. At any dis- 

 tance within fair gun-range I could usually separate it from Wilson's 

 [= Common] Tern by '^» longer tail, and by the uniform and deeper 

 color of the bill. In flight and habits the two seemed to me identical " 

 (Birds Observed on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. 

 Hist., xxii, 1883, p. 402). 



78. Sterna dougalli Montaij. Roseate Tern. Ad. in ninnmcr. — 

 Whole top of the hi-ad black; back and wings pearl-gray; outer web of pri- 

 nuiries and sliaft part of the inner web slaty black (Fig. 61, e); under parts 

 white, generally delicately tinted with pinkish; tail ^Mr<^ white; bill black, 

 the Vjaae reddish •, feet red. Ad. in u'inter. — Similar to the above, but front 

 of the head white, more or less streaked or spotted wiLh black ; under parts 

 pure white. /m.,Jirst plumat/e. — " Pileum and nape pale butfy 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 of tlic nape, and entire lower parts white, the nape, and 

 sometimes the breast, finely mottled with bully gray ; back, scapulars, wing- 

 coverts, rump, upper tail-eoverts, and tail pale pearl-l^lue, the back and scapu- 

 lars overlaid witli pale buff irregularly mottled with dusky, eacli feather with 

 a submarginal dusky V-sluiped mark ; prinuiry coverts and primaries dark 

 bluish-gray edged with paler, the inner webs of the latter broadly edged with 

 white ; tail-feathers marked near their ends much like the longer scapulars, 

 their outer webs rather dark grayish ; bill brownisli dusky ; feet dusky." L., 

 15-50; VV., "J-50; T., 7'50; B., 1-50 (B., B., and R.). 



Itryige. — Temperate and tropical regions ; in America apparently confined 

 to tho Atlantic coast, V>reeding from Florida northward to Maine; compara- 

 tively rare north of southern New Jersey ; winters south of the L'nited States. 



Long Island, uncojumon but regular S. R., May through Sept. 



^V/.'/AS three, not distinguishable with certainty from those of S.forsteri or 

 S, hirundo, but averaging paler and less heavily marked, 1-65 x 1-20. 



This species is found associated with colonies of Common Terns, 

 apparently making its nest among theirs. It is a less excitable, wilder 

 bird than hirundo, and its single harsh note, each, may be distinctly 

 hoard above tho uproar of Commou Terns, as it hovers somewhat in 



