SANDWICH TERN. 533 



between the Florida Keys and Charleston, and from whence it first came 

 there, or how it went thence to Europe, is an enigma which may perhaps 

 never be solved. On asking the AVreckers if they had been in the habit 

 of seeing these birds, they answered in the affirmative, and added that 

 they paid them pretty frequent visits during the breeding season, on ac- 

 count of their eggs as well as of the young, which, when nearly able to 

 fly, they said were also good eating. According to their account, this spe- 

 cies spends the whole winter near and upon the keys, and the young keep 

 separate from the old birds. 



Sterna cantiaca, Gmel. Syst. Nat. Sp. 15 Temm. Man. d'Ornith. part ii. p. 735. 



Sterna Boysii, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 806. 

 Sandwich Tern, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 276. 



Adult Male. Plate CCLXXIX. 



Bill longer than the head, slender, tapering, compressed, nearly 

 straight, very acute. Upper mandible with the dorsal hne slightly arch- 

 ed, the ridge rather broad at the base, very narrow towards the tip, the 

 sides sloping at the base, slightly convex and nearly perpendicular to- 

 wards the end, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip very acute. Nasal 

 groove extending to a httle beyond the middle of the bill and deflected 

 towards its edge ; nostrils basal, linear, direct, pervious. Lower mandi- 

 ble with the angle very narrow and acute, extending nearly to the middle,^ 

 the dorsal line beyond it straight, the sides convex, towards the end more 

 erect, the ridge very narrow, the tip extremely acute. 



Head of moderate size, oblong ; neck of moderate length ; body slender. 

 Feet very small ; tibia bare for a considerable space ; tarsus very short, 

 anteriorly scutellate, laterally and behind reticulated ; toes small, slender, 

 the first extremely small, the third longest, the fourth about the same 

 length, the second much shorter, all scutellate above, the anterior con- 

 nected by reticulated webs of which the margins are deeply concave. 

 Claws arched, compressed, acute, that of hind toe very small, of middle 

 toe by much the largest, and having the inner edge thin and dilated. 



Plumage soft, close, blended, very short on the fore part of the head ; 

 the feathers on the occiput and upper part of hind neck pointed and elon- 

 gated. Wings very long, narrow and pointed ; primary quills tapering, 

 the outer shghtly curved inwards at the end, the first longest, the rest ra- 

 pidly graduated ; secondary short, broad, incurved, rounded, the inner 



