PALMIPEDES. 367 
the two middle quills of the tail are double the length of the others. 
It is very rare in France. When young it is all brown, and is then 
the Lar. crepidatus, Gm.; Enl. 991, or better, Edw. 149*, 
The arctic regions produce a species of the size of a Goéland, 
which is brown, with the base of the wing-quills white, Zar. cata- 
ractes, Gm., Brit. Zool. pl. L, 6; and another the size of a Mouette, 
brown above, white underneath, with a brown collar on the breast, 
the Lestris pomarinus, Tem. + 
Sternat, Lin. 
The Terns, or Sea-Swallows, derive this latter appellation from their 
excessively long and pointed wings and from their forked tail, which ren- 
der their flight and carriage analogous to those of Swallows. Their bill 
is pointed, compressed, and straight, without curve or projection; the 
nostrils, towards the base, are oblong and pierced quite through; the 
membranes which unite their toes are deeply emarginate, consequently 
they swim but seldom. ‘They fly over the waves in every direction and 
with great rapidity, uttering loud cries, and skilfully raising from the sur- 
face of the water the mollusca and small fish on which they feed. They 
also penetrate to the lakes and rivers of the interior. The most common 
species that is found on the fresh waters of France in the spring is, 
St. hirundo, L,; Pierre-Garin, or Hirondelle de mer a@ bec rouge, 
&c., Enl. 987; Frisch, 219; Naum. 37, f. 52; Wils. VII, Ix, 1. 
(The Common Tern). In the adult state white, with a light ash- 
coloured mantle, black calotte, red feet, and red bill with a black 
point. It is about one foot long, and two feet from the tip of one 
wing to that of the other. 
St. minuta, L.; Petit Hir. de mer, Enl. 996; Wils. V, lx, 2; 
Naum. 38, f.55. (The Small Tern). Only differs from the pre- 
ceding by being a third smaller, and having a white forehead. 
St. cantiaca, Albin. II, lxxxviii; Hir. de mer a bec noir, is larger 
than S'. hirundo ; the bill is black, with a yellow point: the St. striata, 
Gm., Lath. VI, pl. 98, is its young. 
St. caspia, Pall. Sparm., Mus. Carls., lxii; Meyer, Ois. d’Al- 
lem., II, vi; Sav., Egypt., Ois. pl. ix, F. 1. (The Caspian Tern). 
The largest of the European species; white, with an ash-coloured 
mantle; occiput, black and white mixed; red bill and black feet. 
St. nigra, fissipes and nevia; Hir. de mer noire, Enl. 538 and 
924; Frisch, 220. (The Black Tern). The tail less forked; 
when young, its mantle is spotted with black; the adult is almost 
entirely of a blackish ash-colour. 
Among the species foreign to Europe, we should notice the Hir. 
* The LZ. crepidatus, Brehm. is identical with the L. Buffonii, Boie, Enl. 762.— 
Ene. Ep. 
+ I cannot affirm the identity of the Lestris catarractes, Freycin. 38, and of the 
Stercoreus pomarinus, Vieill. Gal. 288, with the above species. 
t Stern, or Tern, is their English name, latinized as above by Turner, and ad- 
mitted by Gesner, 
