52 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



The harsh cry, long pointed wings, and coral red bill of this 

 species at once attract the attention of anyone who may happen to 

 be close enough for observation. In spring, when the departure of 

 the ice gives them the privilege of roving about over the inland 

 waters, they visit Hamilton Bay in small numbers, and are seen 

 fishing about the mouths of the inlets, or more frequently basking in 

 the sun on a sandy point which runs out into the bay opposite Dynes' 

 place. In the fall they pay a similar visit, but at that season they, 

 are less attractive in appearance, the bill having lost much of its 

 brilliancy, and the plumage being comparatively dull. 



This is the largest of the terns, and it has a very wide distribu- 

 tion, being found breeding at diiferent points, from the Gulf of 

 Mexico to Alaska, and along the entire Atlantic coast. It is also 

 said to occur in various portions of the eastern hemisphere, including 

 Australia. It does not breed in communities like many of the other 

 terns, being mostly found in retired places in smgle pairs. 



STERNA SANDVICENSIS ACUFLAVIDA (Cabot.). 

 24. Cabot's Tern. (67) 



Bill, rather longer than the head, slender, black, with the tip yellow ; mouth 

 inside, deep blue; feet, black; wings longer than tail, which is deeply forked ; 

 upper part of the head and hind neck, bluish-black ; sides of the head, neck all 

 round, and rest of the lower parts, white; the sides and breast tinged witli 

 pink ; fore part of the back, scapulars and upper surface of the wmgs, pale 

 bluish-gray; the tips and greater part of the inner web of the scapulars and 

 quills, white, as are the rump and tail; the four outer quills blackish, but 

 covered with light gray down on the oilier webs, and over a considerable por- 

 tion of the inner, their shafts white. Length, 15-16; wing, 12-50. 



Hab. — Tropical America, northward along the Atlantic coast irregularly to 

 southern New England. 



Eggs, two or three, dropped on the dry sand, rather pointed, yellowish-drab, 

 spotted with dark and reddish-brown. 



In the spring of 1882, Dr. Gamier noticed three terns of this 

 species coursing around a mill-pond not far from his residence at 

 Lucknow. The Doctor attended to them at once, and the result was 

 that one went clear off toward Lake Huron, another wriggled with 

 difficulty after it, and the third fell dead on the pond. I afterward 

 saw this specimen mounted, and satisfied myself of its identity. It is 

 difficult to account for birds wandering away at times beyond their 



