1 



320 



LAEIDJE, TERNS. 289-92. 



6-t 



California, Mexico, Cent, and S. Am., and Africa. ,6'. galericulata Light., 



Verz. 1823, 81; 8. elegans Game., Proc. Pliila. Acad. 1848, 129; Lawe. 



iu Bd. 860; Thalasseus elegans Coues, I. c. 540. . . . galericulata. 

 /Sanchvich Tern. Bill black, tipped with yellow. Plumage as in regius 



or galericulata, but mantle extremely pale ; smaller ; length 15-16 ; wing 



about 12 ; tail 5-6 ; bill 

 2-2J, the yellow part 



mere point ; tarsus 1 ; 

 middle toe and claw IJ. 

 Atlantic and Gulf Coast 

 of U. S., abundant. 

 Europe. *S'. hoysii 

 NuTT., ii, 276 ; S. can- 

 tiaca AuD., vii, 87, pi. 

 Hist. 1847, 257 ; Lawk. 



540. . . . CANTIACA. 



Fig. 202. Sandwich Tein. 



Nat. 

 I. c. 



431 ; S. amflavida Cabot, Proc. Bost. Soc. 

 iu Bd., 860; Thalasseus acuflavidus Coues, 



ft Occiput not crested. Feet not black. Medium and small. (Sterna.) 

 ^ Common Tern. Wilson's Tern. Sea Sivalloiv. Bill red, blackening on 

 the terminal third, the very poiut usually light ; feet coral-red. Mantle 

 pearly grayish-blue ; primary shafts white excej^t at the end; below white, 

 washed with pale pearly plumbeous, blanching on throat and lower belly. 

 Tail mostly white, the outer web of the outer feather darker than the inner 

 web of the same. Length of $ 14J (13 to 16) ; extent 31 (29-32) ; wing 

 lOJ (9f-llf ) ; tail 6 (5-7) ; tarsus f (§-5) ; bill If (IJ-J) ; whole foot 

 averaging 1| ; 9 rat-Jier less ; averaging toward these minima : 3'ouug birds 

 may show a little smaller, in length of tail particularly^ and so of total length ; 

 length 12-f- ; wing 9+ ; tail 4+ ; bill 1^+. Iu winter, this species does not 

 appear to lose the black cap, contrary to a nearly universal rule. Young: 

 bill mostly dusky, but much of the under mandible yellowish ; feet simply 

 yellowish ; cap more or less defective ; back and wings patched and barred 

 with gvAV and light brown, the bluish showing imperfectly if at all, but this 

 color shading much of the tail; usually a blackish bar along the lesser 

 coverts, and several tail feathers dusky on the outer web ; below, pure white, 

 or with very little plumbeous shade. N. Am., abundant ; breeds at various 

 Ijoiuts along the Atlantic States, and northward. It does not difler iu the 

 least from the European. S. hirundo'Wu.s., vii, 76, pi. 60, f. 1 ; Aud., vii, 

 97, pi. 433; Nutt., ii, 271 ; S. ivilsoni Lawe. in Bd., 861. . hirundo. 

 /-^^ Forster's Tern. Like the last; larger, tail longer and wings shorter. 

 Wing of adult 9J-10J; tail 6J-8, thus often beyond the extreme of hirundo, 

 aud nearly as in macroura; bill 1| (IJ-lf), and about | deep at base 

 (in hirundo rarely if ever so deep) ; tarsus seldom down to ^ ; whole foot 

 about 2. Little or no plumbeous wash below ; inner web of the outer tail 

 feather darker than the outer web of the same. Young and winter birds 

 may bo distinguished from hirundo at gunshot range ; the black cap is almost 



