WHITE SEA-BIRDS. 



COMMON TERN.— Plate 114. i4i inches. Capped 

 with black to the level of the eyes ; upper plumage 

 pearl-gray, becoming white towards the tail ; tail long, 

 very finely and deeply forked ; all* other parts white ; 

 bill coral-red, tipped with black ; legs and feet coral- 

 red. Summer migrant. 



Eggs. — 3, greenish -gray or stone -buff, spotted 

 and densely blotched with dark brown and gray ; 

 1-7 X 1-1 inch (plate 133). 



Nest. — A mere depression in sand, shingle, or turf, 

 with or without a few bits of dry herbage. 



The Common Tern is found along all the coasts of 

 the British Islands, thinning out northwards until it 

 intermingles with, and is finally superseded by, the 

 more northerly ranging Arctic Tern. It is a summer 

 migrant to our shores, placing its eggs either among 

 the shingle on the mainland beach or on an island 

 off-shore. On the wiag no bird equals the Tern for 

 elegance of form or grace of motion, the long, slender 

 wings beating slowly with a suggestion of frailty, 

 and the long and deeply forked tail recalling the 

 bird's name of Sea-Swallow. The resemblance to the 

 Swallow, however, lies in the forking of the tail alone. 

 For the rest, the Tern looks like a very slim Gull, 

 showing almost entirely white as it flies. But when 

 it rests, its form expresses its function. It is a 



