BREWSTER: BIRDS OF THE CAPE REGION, LOWER CALIFORNIA. 25 
Sterna forsteri Nort. 
FORSTER’s TERN. 
Sterna forstert BeLpine, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., V. 1888, 546 (Cape Region). 
Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., II. 1889, 252 (Cape Region). 
This Tern is mentioned without comment in Mr. Belding’s list of birds found 
in the Cape Region between December 15, 1881, and May 17, 1882. Mr. Frazar 
met with it only at San José del Cabo where he shot three specimens, one on 
September 29, the other two on the following day. Six in all were seen on 
these dates, and none either before or afterwards. 
All three of the specimens secured are in winter plumage. One is perhaps 
an old bird. The other two have some of the feathers of the mantle tipped 
with faded brown and are probably young. In one of the latter the outer 
webs of the outer pair of tail feathers are uniform dark slaty for a terminal 
space of more than an inch in length, but the extreme tips of these feathers are 
white in both webs. 
According to Mr. Bryant, Forster’s Tern has been observed on the northwest 
coast of the Peninsula by Mr. Anthony. It occurs in various parts of Cali- 
fornia, and Dr. Heermann has found it breeding in the valley of the Sacramento 
River. On the whole, however, it appears to be much less numerous near the 
Pacific coast than in the interior of North America. It migrates as far south 
“as Guatemala, on both the Pacific and Atlantic side, and even to the latitude 
of Pernambuco, Brazil.” 1 
Sterna hirundo Linn. 
Common TERN. WILson’s TERN. 
Mr. Frazar is apparently entitled to the credit of first detecting the Common 
Tern in Lower California. He observed it only at San José del Cabo, where 
six specimens, all young birds, were taken along the beach at various dates be- 
tween the 5th and 30th of September. This species, although one of the most 
cosmopolitan of its tribe, “is not common — if indeed it breeds at all — on the 
Pacific coast ; but throughout California — according to Dr. Heermann — it is 
very abundant along the rivers in the interior during the summer, retiring 
southward in the winter. Dr. Cooper never met with it on the sea-coast of 
California, . . . nor-did he see it on the Columbia River.” 2 
The accuracy of the statement attributed to Dr. Heermann in tne passage 
above quoted is open to grave suspicion, for none of the field observers who 
have been so numerous and active in California during the past decade have 
found Wilson’s Tern abundant or even common. Indeed, it appears to be 
doubtful if there are any really authentic records of its occurrence, especially 
in the interior of the state. 
1 Saunders, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1876, 651. 
2 Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Water Birds N. Amer., IJ. 1884, 297. 
