LARIDJ^: - THE GULLS AND TERNS — STERNA. 293 



back over the auriculur.s. Tail less deeply forked than in su miner, the outer rectrices broader and 

 less elongated. Young, first plumage: Similar to the winter plumage, but the pileuni, nape, 

 back, .scapulars, terlials, and wing-coverts oveilaid by a wash of raw-umber brown, chiefly on the 

 ends of tlie feathers, but appearing nearly uniform on the back and crown ; .sides of the breast 

 tinged with the same. Rectrices all distinctly dusky terminally, especially on inner webs (the 

 outer web of the lateral feather hoary white to the tip), the middle feathers tipped with raw- 

 umber. Bill dusky, more brownish on basal portion of the mandible ; legs and feet light brown 

 in the dried skin. Downy young: Prevailing color light brownish bulf, the brea-st and abdomen 

 white ; lower surface entirely immaculate, but u])per parts coarsely and irregularly marbled with 

 black, the sides of the head with a few scattered irregular minute markings of the same. Length, 

 about 3.50 inches, the culmen .35 of an inch.i 



Total length, about 12.00 to 15.00 inches ; extent, 30.00 ; wing, 9.50-10.30 ; tail, 5.00-7.70 ; 

 depth of its fork, 2.30-5.00 ; culmen, 1.50-1.65 ; depth of bill through base, .35-.49 ; tarsus, .90- 

 .99 ; middle toe, 1.05-1.15. 



This species, in the immature form, was described by Mr. Audubon as Havell's 

 Tern, from specimens obtained by him near 'New Orleans in 1820. The flock from 

 which these individuals were shot was congregated on the broad eddies of the river 

 opposite to the city. They were engaged in picking up coleopterous insects. He 

 afterward obtained two other specimens in Texas in the spring of 1837 ; and suppos- 

 ing it to be a southern species, gave its habitat as extending from Texas to South. 

 Carolina. Richardson met with it in the Arctic Regions, and confounded it with 

 Sterna hirundo, to which it so closely conforms in its habits that the two species 

 are with difficulty distinguislied from each other. 



Recent investigations have greatly extended the known area of distribution of this 

 bird. While it has been ascertained by Mr. Ridgway to breed on our Atlantic sea- 

 coast, near the Chesapeake, it has been also found to be an abundant species through- 

 out our western territory, where it is found from the Mississippi Valley to California, 

 breeding in the summer as far south as Southern Texas, and thence northward to 

 extreme northern regions. 



It was first specifically distinguished as S. Forster'i by ISTuttall, in a note to Sterna 

 hh-undo, in his edition of 1834 (p. 274). 



A single example of this species, in the plumage figured by Audubon as S. Havelli, 

 was taken by Mr. Salvin on Lake Dueiias, Guatemala, Oct. 28, 1862, and was the 

 only Tern seen by him on that lake. Colonel Grayson met with this bird near 

 Mazatlan, in Western Mexico, where, as he states, it is quite abundant aloxig the 

 shores and esteros from October until April. 



Dr. Cooper writes me, that while he has never met with this Tern within the limits 

 of California, it has been obtained by others in different parts of the State, and espe- 

 cially by Dr. Heermann, who found it breeding in the valley of the Sacramento. 



Although this species appears to be so largely a resident of the interior, and to be 

 most numerous west of the Mississippi, and although it was supposed to be compara- 

 tively rare both on the Pacific and the Atlantic coast, recent discoveries show it to 

 be less rare on the latter than has been generally supposed. A single example in 

 immature plumage w as taken by Mr. Maynard on Ipswich Beach, September, 1870 ; 

 and since then several others have been secured on the sea-coast of Massachusetts. 

 During the winter this is said to be one of the most common birds in the open water 

 of the Patapsco, near Baltimore, and to be also a winter resident on the coast of the 

 Carolinas. Examples have also been taken in Florida. During the months of 



1 Described from a very young individual (No. 84780, U. S. Nat. Mus.) from Grass Lake, 111., June 

 15, 1876 ; E. W. Nelson, coll. 



