120 BIRDS OF THE WORLD 



called Sea Swallows. When alarmed, these birds 

 hover distractedly in the air above their nests. 



The Little, or Least, Tern in its general appearance 

 resembles the Common Tern, from which, however, 

 it may be readily distinguished by its much smaller 

 size and by the yellow, black-tipped beak. The Least 

 Tern of America is nearly related to the European 

 species, but has less black on the back. It is said to 

 vary its fish diet with insects. As may be inferred 

 from its name, this is the smallest member of the Tern 

 family. See Plate 39, Fig. 227. 



The Bridled and Sooty Terns are two species that 

 closely resemble each other, found in tropical and 

 subtropical regions of the western hemisphere. 



The Fulmar is remarkable for having two distinct 

 phases of plumage — a light phase, in which the head, 

 neck and under parts are white, with back, wings and 

 tail grey, and a dark phase, in which the whole plum- 

 age is much the same shade of dark, smoky grey. 

 This bird is Gull-like in form, but has longer wings. 

 These are occasionally flapped slowly in flight, but 

 much of the time are held stiffly outstretched. 



The Sandwich Tern derives its name from the place 

 where it was first observed — Sandwich, England. In 

 this species the crown in summer is black and the beak 

 is black tipped with yellow. The back,, as in the other 

 Terns and many of the Gulls, is a beautiful pearl- 

 grey, the under-parts white, but tinged with a salmon- 

 pink colour, which rapidly fades after the death of the 

 bird. The legs and feet are black, in this respect dif- 

 fering from those of the other Terns described. See 

 Plate 39, Fig. 229. 



