1.50 



COMMON TERN. 



(Sterna Hirundo.) 



St. rostro pedibusque sanguineis, rectricibus duabus externis albo 



nigroque dimidiatis. 

 Tern with the beak and legs blood red, the two outer tail-feathers 



half black half white. 

 Sterna Hirundo. Linn. Syst. Nat. 1. 227. Gmel. Syst. Nat. 1. 



606. Lath. bid. Orn. 2. 807- 

 Hirundo marina. Rati Syn. 131. A. 

 Sterna major. Briss. Orn. 6. 203. pi. 19.,/". 1. 

 L'Hirondelle de mer pierre garin. Buff. Hist. Nat. Ois. 8. 331. 



pi. 27. Buff. PL Enl. 987 . Temm. man. d'Orn. 481. Id. 



2 Edit. ii. 744. Cuv. Reg. Anim. 1. 521. 

 Greater Tern (or Common). Penn. Brit. Zool. 2. 254. ;;/. 90. 



Lath. Gen. Syn. 6. 361. Lew. Brit. Birds, 6. pi, 204. Wale. 



Syn. I. pi. 119. Don. Brit. Birds, 1. pi. 23. Mont. Orn. 



Diet. 2. and Supp. Betv. Brit. Birds, 2. 129. Wils. Amer. 



Orn. vii. 76.pl. lxx.y. 1. Lath. Gen. Hist. x. 114. 



Length upwards of fourteen inches : its beak is 

 crimson, with its tip dusky : the irides are reddish- 

 brown : the forehead, top of the head, and the long 

 occipital feathers are deep black : the hinder part of 

 the neck, the back, and wings are bluish-ash : the 

 under parts are pure white, the breast excepted, 

 which is slightly shaded with cinereous ; the quills 

 are whitish-ash tipped with brown-ash : the tail is 

 white ; with its two lateral feathers blackish-brown 

 on their outer webs : the legs are red. The young 

 after the first autumnal moult have the forehead and 

 part of the top of the head of a dirty white, marked 



