STERNA. 403 



In general habits S. forsteri resembles the Common Tern, S.fluviatilis, with which 

 it consorts during the breeding-season. Its food consists mostly of small fish. 



The nest is built amongst reeds and tussocks, and is often a bulky structure. The 

 eggs are two or three in number, of a pale greyish-green or pale buff, thickly and evenly 

 marked with spots and blotches of dark blackish-brown and underlying pale purple ". 



2. Sterna fluviatilis. 



Sterna fluviatilis, Naum. Isis, 1819, pp. 1847, 1848 ' ; Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxv. p. 54 ' ; 



Gates, Cat. Eggs Brit. Mus. i. p. 182'. 

 Sterna sp., Coues, Ibis, 1864, p. 389 *. 

 Sterna hirundo (nee Linn.), Baird, Brewer, & Ridgway, Water-Birds N. Amer. ii. p. 295 ' ; A. O. 



U. Check-1. N. Amer. Birds, 2nd ed. p. 24 \ 



Ptil. cestiv. Supra margaritaceo-cinerea ; collo postico et laterali, uropygio imo et supracaudalibus pure 

 albis ; rectricibus quoque albis, vix cinereo extus lavatis, duabus extimis magis distinote extus cinereis ; 

 alis dorso concoloribus, remigibus albis, secundariis albo terminatis ; primariis albis, extus et intus juxta 

 rhachidem albam cineraceis, et apicem versus intus quoque nigricantibus vel cinerascenti-nigris, pogonio 

 interno minime ad apicem albo marginato ; pileo nuchaque baud cristata nigerrimis ; loris et facie 

 laterali cum corpore subtus toto, subalaribus et axillaribus et m.argine alari albis pectore vix margari- 

 taceo-cinereo adumbrato : rostro coralline, ad apicem corneo-brunneo ; pedibus coraUinis ; iride saturate 

 brunnea. Long, tofca circa 14-0, alae 10-4, caudse 2-5, rectrice extima 5-2, culm. 1-4, tarsi 0-8. (Descr. 

 maris adulti ex Tarpon Springs, Plorida. Mus. nostr.) 



2 mari simiUs. Long, tota circa 12-5, alse 10-7. (Descr. feminae adultae Mem. ex Tarpon Springs. Mus. 

 nostr.) 



Pill. Mem. similis ptilosi sestivse, sed fronte et pileo albo striolatis. 



Av. Jiomot. similis ptilosi hiemali adultse ; fronte et loris albis ; pileo reliquo albo, nigro striate ; nucha cum 

 pilei postici lateribus et regione anteoculari nigris ; tectricibus alarum minimis nigricantibus. (Descr. 

 av. hornot. ex San Jose de Guatemala. Mus. nostr.) 



Juv. similis praecedenti, sed plumis fascia cinerascenti-brunnea subterminali ornatis vel marmoratis. 



Hab. North America, chiefly east of the Plains, breeding from the Arctic coast, 

 somewhat irregularly, to Florida, Texas, and Arizona, and scarcely known on the 

 Pacific side 2 6. — Guatemala, San Jose (0. /S'. ^^j. — South America, eastern coast 

 to Bahia ^ ; West Indies ^. — Europe and Temperate Asia, breeding ; India, 

 Ceylon, and South Africa in winter 2. 



This is the well-known " Common Tern " of Europe, and has an extensive distribution 

 both in the Old and New Worlds. It differs from S. forsteri in having the long outer 

 rectrices white, with a darker grey outer web than on the rest of the tail-feathers. The 

 inner webs of the primaries are not white to their extreme ends, and the bill and feet 

 are both red. 



A single example of this Tern was obtained by Salvin at San Jose in Guatemala on 

 the 8th of December, 1862. Its identification puzzled Dr. Elliott Coues, when the 

 specimen was submitted to him in 1864, but Mr. Howard Saunders has since determined 

 that it is a young individual of S.fluviatilis^. 



The species breeds both on the sea-shore and inland in North America, migrating 



51* 



