BIRDS FOUND NEAR SHORE OR IN BAYS 43 



it flies toward you may have suggested its name, for it is 

 not unlike the black cocked hat and white expanse of 

 bosom so characteristic of the portraits of that monarch. 

 It is found throughout North America, being rather 

 more abundant on the Atlantic than the Pacific coast. 

 Its food is small fish, which it procures by diving 

 from the air to the surface of the water, not beneath 

 it. Swift and graceful in flight, of small and elegant 

 form, it seems rather to belong to the terns than to the 

 gulls. Its breeding grounds are in the far north, through 

 the wooded districts of Alaska and as far south as Mani- 

 toba. In November and May these gulls pass through 

 California as migrants, a few remaining at San Diego 

 Bay throughout December and returning there in 

 March. 



65. ROYAL TERN. — Sterna maxima. 

 Family : The Gulls and Terns. 



Length: 18.21. 



Adults in Spring : Top of head and nape glossy black, feathers length- 

 ened to form a crest ; upper parts pearl-gray, merging to white on 

 tail and at back of neck ; under parts, including throat and sides of 

 neck, pure white ; bill bright orange ; feet black. 



Adults after Breeding Season and in Winter : Similar, but black on head 

 and crest mixed with white ; bill pale orange. 



Young: Similar to winter adults, but upper parts more or less mottled 

 with dusky brown ; tail dusky near tip ; crest slightly developed ; 

 top of head dusky, mixed with white. 



Downy Young : Like downy young of S. caspia. 



Geographical Distribution : Tropical America and warmer parts of North 

 America, to latitude 40°, casually northward to Massachusetts and the 

 Great Lakes. Common coastwise in California at all seasons. 



Breeding Range : On Atlantic coast from New Jersey southward ; on 

 Gulf coast from Texas to Florida; at San Miguel Island on the 

 Pacific coast. 



