CASPIAN TERN. 145 



of a gayer description than either those of the Vi- 

 valres or Noddies ; the predominating hue being a 

 beautiful' ashy-lead colour, often tinged with rosy. 



Terns are perpetually on the wing, and when they 

 rest seldom alight upon the water, but prefer the 

 land, as they are bad swimmers. Their nourishment 

 consists almost exclusively of small live fishes, which 

 they seize upon while on the wing, descending like a 

 shot to the water, and capturing their prey. 



CASPIAN TERN. 



(Sterna Caspia.) 



St. corpore supra plambeo-cinereo, subtus cotloque albo, rostro 



coccineo, capillitio pedibicsque nigris. 

 Tern with the body above leaden-ash, beneath and neck white, the 



beak crimson, the capillitiurn and legs black. 

 Hirondelle de mer Tschegrava. Temm. man. d'Om. 1. 2 Edit. ii. 



733. 

 Sterna Caspica. Gmel. Syst. Nat. 1. 603. Lath. Ind. Orn. 5. 



804. Sparr.'Mus. Carl.fas.pl. 62. 

 Caspian Tern. Pe?m. Arct. Zool. 2. 526. Lath. Gen. Syn. 6. 



350. Lath. Gen. Hist. x. 99. 



The Caspian Tern is upwards of twenty inches in 

 length : its beak is crimson : the irides are dull : the 

 forehead, crown, hind head, and round the eyes, are 

 deep black, with a few dots of white : on the lower 

 eye-lid is a small whitish crescent : the hind part of 

 the neck, and all the upper parts of the body, the 



v. xiii. p. i. 10 



