TERNS. 83 



chusetts to the arctic regions, and wintering southward to Virginia and Cali- 

 fornia" (A. O. U.). 



Long Island, rare in summer. 



Eggs^ three to four, not distinguishable with certainty from those of the 

 preceding, 1-62 x 115. 



Comparing the notes of this bird with those of the Common Tern, 

 Mr. Brewster writes : " Their notes are similar, but several of them 

 can be distinguished. The usual cry of S. macrura [= paradisma\ cor- 

 responds to the tearr of S. hirimdo, but is . shriller, ending in a rising 

 inflection, and sounding very like the squeal of a pig. The bird also 

 has a short, harsh note similar to that of Forster's Tern. At any dis- 

 tance within fair gun-range I could usually separate it from Wilson's 

 [= Common] Tern by its longer tail, and by the uniform and deeper 

 color of the bill. In flight and habits the two seemed to me identical " 

 (Birds Observed on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. 

 Hist., xxii, 1883, p. 403). 



TS. Sterna dougalli Montag. Eoseate Tekn. Ad. in summer. — 

 Top of head blacli; back and wings pearl-gray; outer web of outer pri- 

 maries and shaft part of the inner web slaty black (Fig. 61, e) \ under parts 

 white, generally delicately tinted with pinkish ; tail pure white; bill black, 

 the base reddish ; feet red. Ad. in winter. — Similar to the above, but front 

 of the head white, more or less streaked or spotted with black ; under parts 

 pure white. Im., first plumage. — " Pileum and nape pale buff'y grayish, finely 

 mottled or sprinkled with darker, and streaked, especially on the crown, with 

 dusky ; orbital and auricular regions dusky blackish ; remainder of the head, 

 extreme lower part of the nape, and entire lower parts white, the nape, and 

 sometimes the breast, finely mottled with bufl'y gray ; back, scapulars, wing- 

 coverts, rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail pale pearl-blue, the back and scapu- 

 lars overlaid with pale buff irregularly mottled with dusky, each feather with 

 a submarginal dusky V-shaped mark ; primary coverts and primaries dark 

 bluish-gray edged with paler, the inner webs of the latter broadly edged with 

 white; tail-feathers marked near their ends much like the longer scapulars, 

 their outer webs rather dark grayish ; bill brownish dusky ; feet dusky." L., 

 15-50; W"., 9-50; T., 7-50; B., 1-50 (B., B., and B.). 



Eange, — Temperate and tropical regions ; in America apparently confined 

 to the Atlantic coast, breeding from Florida northward to Maine; compara- 

 tively rare north of southern New Jersey ; winters south of the United States. 



Long Island, uncommon but regular S. E., May through Sept. 



Eggs.1 three, not distinguishable with certainty from those of S.,forsteri or 

 jS. hirundo, but averaging paler and less heavily marked, 1'65 x 1-20. 



This species is found associated with colonies of Common Terns, 

 apparently making its nest among theirs. It is a less excitable, wilder 

 bird than hirutido, and its single harsh note, each, may be distinctly 

 heard above the uproar of Common Terns, as it hovers somewhat in 



