July, 1884.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



79 



on the Pacific to California. Breeds from 

 Massachusetts northward. 



Next in numbers, but few in comparison 

 with the former, as is also the case in all 

 the breeding places of the Terns visited on 

 the coast of the province is Wilson's or the 

 Common Tern, {Sterna hirundo) Length, 

 some 14.00; extent about 30.00; tarsus, 

 .66-87, and so noticeably larger than that 

 of the Arctic. Except in the points noted, 

 the two species are very similar, even to the 

 voice. In habitat, however, the Wilson be- 

 longs to the whole Atlantic coast, breeding 

 more or less throughout its range. In New 

 England it breeds the most commonly of 

 all its family. The black cap is retained 

 during the winter, but is more or less im- 

 perfect in the young, which are beautifully 

 mottled with grey and light brown, with 

 more or less dusky on the wing-coverts and 

 tail. As in the young of the former, the 

 underparts are white, but the base of the 

 bill and the feet are yellowish. I found 

 this species breeding in large numbers on 

 one of the Western Islands in Georgian 

 Bay, and a few laying their eggs on the 

 muskrat-houses on St. Clair Flats. I think 

 they breed in the higher regions of the 

 Great Lakes generally. 



Among the flocks of Terns on Flat Island, 

 I was not a little surprised to find a few of 

 the Roseate Terns, (Sterna paradiscea). 

 From what I had learned in the books, I 

 should have scarcely expected to find this 

 species as far north as Portland, Maine. 

 Even on the wing it was readily distin- 

 guishable from the rest of its kind. Some 

 12.00-16.00 in length, and so a little less 

 than Wilson's Tern, its tail is at least an 

 inch longer, and its entire form is more 

 slender and graceful, so much so as to be 

 noticeable even at a distance. 



Other Terns appear almost clumsy in 

 comparison with it. The bill is black ex- 

 cept, perhaps, a slight patch of orange at 

 the base below ; the silvery curtain above 

 is lighter and more exquisitely delicate even 

 than in the rest of the Terns, the black cap 



extends well down the nape, the feet are 

 dark orange, and the underparts are white- 

 tinted throughout, even including the tail 

 coverts, with a delicate rose, the texture 

 and the color of the plumage being such as 

 scarcely to be rivalled by the most ex- 

 quisite rose-tinted satin. The newly shot 

 specimen is simply charming, but the 

 brightness of the plumage is not retained 

 after death. Indeed all the Terns seem to 

 lose their highest beauty when cold, their ex- 

 treme delicacy of color being consistent 

 only with the warm glow of life. A bird is 

 a highly specialized and beautiful object, 

 especially the more chastely colored birds 

 of the sea ; but what on the whole Atlantic 

 can equal the graceful form, bill and crown 

 of ebony, back of burnished silver, hoary, 

 dark-tipped wings and breast of blushing 

 rose, of this Roseate Tern ! The more gor- 

 geous birds of the tropics compare with it, 

 as the dahlia and the peony, with the rose 

 and the water-nymph. In motion it is no 

 less charming, its flight being peculiarly 

 airy and dashing, the slender pointed wings 

 and long forked tail being the most grace- 

 ful possible. 



The note of this Tern always advised me 

 of its presence. I could not make out the 

 "hew-it repeated at frequent intervals," but 

 essentially the same ter-r-r-rr, ter-r-r-r-r, 

 as given by the other Terns, only on ; 

 lower key and in a rougher, hoarser tone, 

 as if aspiring to a fine falsetto. 



Muskegat Island, near Nantucket, seems 

 to be the principal breeding place of this 

 species. 



I did not seeForster's Tern, (Sterna fors- 

 teri,) in Nova Scotia. New England orni • 

 thologists testify to its rarity on their coast. 

 Its place of breeding is believed to be in 

 the upper regions of the Great Lakes. 

 Only a few nest, like the Wilson's Tern, 

 on the muskrat houses of St. Clair Flats. 

 Mr. Maynard informs me that they breed in 

 large numbers on Cobb's Island off the 

 coast of Virginia. About the size and form 

 of Wilson's Tern, this species seem to be 



