238 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



longer scapularn, etc.. by a dusky internal sub-border; greater wing-coverts and second- 

 aries white, as in the adult; primaries much as in the adult. Tail white, witha broad sub- 

 terminal band of black, the tip narrowly white or pale fulvous; upper tail-coverts and en- 

 tire lower parts white. Bill dusky, brownish toward the base: feet light brownish (in the 

 skin). 



Wing, about 10.75 inches; culmen, 1.00; depth of bill through angle, .30; tarsus, 1.25: 

 middle toe and claw. 1.25. 



According to published records only one specimen of this Arc- 

 tic gull has been observed in Illinois, and that, unfortunately, 

 was not secured. It was shot by Mr. E. W. Nelson* on the 

 shore of Lake Michigan, April 1, 1873, was in breeding plum- 

 age, but falling beyond his reach, was drifted off from the shore 

 by the wind. 



Subfamily STERNIN^.— The Terns. 

 Genus GELOCHELIDON Brehm. 



Gelochelidon Bbehm, Naturg. Vog. Deutschl. 1831, 774. Type, G. meridionalis 

 B^WBM, =8terna nilotica Hasselq. 



Gen. Chak. Bill short and stout, with strongly convex upper and lower outline, its 

 depth at the base equal to one third the length of the exposed culmen; gonys shorter than 

 outer toe, without cla v ; tail nearly half as long as the wing, forked for less than one third 

 its length. Color of adult pale pearl-gray above, with top of head and hind-neck deep 

 black, lower parts white; bill and feet black. 



The genus includes, so far as known, a single species, the 

 Gull-billed Tern {G. nilotica), which occurs in Europe, Asia, 

 Africa, and Australia, as well as America. 



Gelochelidon nilotica (Hasselq.) 



GUXL-BILLED TERN. 



Popnlar synonym. Maish Tern. 



Sterna nilotica Hasselq. Reise nach Pal. Deutsche Ausg. 1762, 325. 



Gi'lochelidon nilotica Stejn. Auk, i. Oct. 1884. 366.— A. O. U. Check List. 1886. No. 63.— 

 Ridgw. Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 38. 

 Sterna anglica Montague. Orn. Diet Suppl. 1813.— Nutt. Man. ii. 1834, 2t')9.— .\ud. Orn. Biog. 

 V, 183<>. 127, pi. 410; Synop. 1839. 316; B. Am. vii. 1844. 81. pL 4.30.— CoUES, Key, 1872. 319; 

 Check Li.st, 1873, No. 560; 2d ed. 1882, No. 792.— Ridgw. Norn. N. Am. B. 18S1, No. i?r9.— 

 B. B. & R. Water B. N. Am. ii, 1884, 277. 

 GcZoc/ieZfdon an(7iicrt Bonap. Comp. List, 1838, 61.— CouES, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 



1862, 536 (critical). 

 Sterna {Gelochelidon) anglica CouES. B. N. W. 1874. 664. 

 Sterna aranea Wils. Am. Orn. viii. 1814. U3, pi. 72, llg. 6.— Lawb. in Baird's B. N. Am. 1S58. 859. 

 — BAiBD.Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 681. 



♦Recorded in the B-nlletin of the Nut tall (h-nitholooical Cluh. Vol. 1, 1876, p. 41. 



