TERNS, OR SEA SWALLOWS 



(Subfamily Sternince) 



Marsh Tern 



( Gelochelidon nilotica) 



Called also: GULL-BILLED TERN, OR SEA SWALLOW 



Length — 13 to 15 inches. 



Male and Female — Top and back of head glossy, greenish black; 

 neck all around, and under parts, white; mantle over back 

 and wings, pearl gray; bill and feet black, the former rather 

 short and stout for this family ; wings exceedingly long and 

 sharp, each primary surpassing the next fully an inch in 

 length. Tail white, grayish in the centre, and only slightly 

 forked. In winter plumage similar to the above, except that 

 the top of head is white, only a blackish space in front of 

 eyes ; grayish about the ears. 



Range — "Nearly cosmopolitan ; in North America chiefly along the 

 Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, breeding north 

 to southern New Jersey, and wandering casually to Long 

 Island and Massachusetts ; in winter both coasts of Mexico 

 and Central America, and south to Brazil." A. O. U. 



Season — Summer visitor. Summer resident south of Delaware. 



A very common species, indeed, off the coasts of our south- 

 ern States, this tern, which one can distinguish from its relatives 

 by its heavy black bill and harsh voice, appears at least as far 

 north as Long Island every summer, and occasionally a straggler 

 reaches Maine. While allied very closely to the gulls, that come 

 out of the far north in the winter to visit us, the terns reverse 

 the order and come out of the south in summer. 



All manner of beautiful curves and evolutions, sudden darts 

 and dives distinguish the flight of terns, which in grace and airi- 

 ness of motion no bird can surpass ; but this gull-billed tern is 

 particularly alert and swallow-like, owing to its fondness for 



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