802. 
LARIDE — STERNINZ: TERNS. 767 
black, with a narrow white frontal crescent the horns of which reach over the eyes, the 
convexity quite to the bill, but cut off from the white of the cheeks by a line of black through 
eye to end of feathers on bill. Entire upper parts, including tail, pearly-blue, rather dark 
and of a leaden shade, reaching quite to the black cap, fading on sides of ueck and head into 
the snowy satiny-white of all the under parts. ‘Tail-feathers like back, but paler basally 
and white on their under surfaces, and outer web of the outer feather. Mantle extending to 
very tips of the tertials and secondaries, but inner webs of these feathers nearly white toward 
the base. Shafts of first two primaries black on top, white underneath, the webs black, the 
inner with a white space, distinctly outlined from the black, not reaching ends of the feathers; ' 
other primaries like back, but darker plumbeous, fading to white on their inner borders. 
Feet orange-yellow, claws black. Adult in winter: Bill black; feet dull yellowish. Fore- 
head and lores white; crown white, with black shaft-lines; occiput and nape blackish, 
sending forward a band through eye. Mantle darker than in summer, and more restricted, 
leaving hind-neck white; a band of grayish-black along fore-arm, and whole edge of the 
wing of this color. Most of the primaries blackish, without silvering. Young of first winter: 
Similar, forehead not pure white, nor hind-head quite blackish, mantle varied with lighter 
tips of most of the feathers; tail with traces of dark spots. Young in August: Bill brownish- 
black, pale at base below. Forehead mostly white; crown and hind-head varied with white 
and brownish-black, the latter color especially forming an auricular patch. Pearl-gray 
mantle of the adults appearing, but interrupted with brown hastate or crescentic spots, one 
or more on each feather, mottling the whole upper parts. Primaries grayish-black, growing 
lighter from first to last, margined on inner webs with white, broadly and briefly on outer 
primaries, more narrowly and lengthily on successive ones; outer web of first primary, and 
shafts of all on upper side, black. Tail merely emarginate, without elongation of outer 
feathers ; pearly-blue, shading towards the ends of the feathers to dusky-gray, the tips white. 
Whole under parts pure white. A pretty little ‘‘ sea-swallow,” inhabiting temperate N. Am., 
especially along the Atlantic coast of the U. 8., but also on larger inland waters; Pacific 
side to California; South into the Antilles and Middle America; very intimately related to 
the S. Am. superciliaris and European minuta. Eggs dropped on bare dry sand of beaches, 
or in a little shelly depression, 1, 2, or 3 in number, 1.20 to 1.30 by 0.99; ground color 
varying from pale clear greenish to dull pale drab, speckled all over with small splashes, 
irregular spots and dots of several shades of clear brown, with paler and more lilaceous 
shell-spots; the markings often evenly distributed, more’ frequently tending to wreathe at 
or around the larger end, the point often free from marks or with only a few dots. 
S. trudeau/i. (To Dr. James Trudeau.) Truprau’s TERN. WHITE-HEADED TERN. Size 
and proportions nearly as in S. forstert, the bill especially of same size and shape. Coloration 
very different, unique in the subfamily. Adult: Bill straw-yellow at end, apparently bright 
colored, probably reddish, at base, with a broad black intervening band. The whole head pure 
white, including all the parts about the base of the bill; this deepens insensibly into the pearly 
color all around. A narrow distinct bar of slaty-black on side of head, passing through eye 
from a point just in advance of the auriculars, where the fascia widens and bends down a little. 
All the rest of the plumage, below as well as above, of a uniform lustrous pale pearly, with 
the following exceptions: Under surfaces of wings pure white; tail, with its coverts and the 
rump, white, still with an appreciable pearly tint ; tips, and part of inner vanes of secondaries 
and tertials, white ; primaries with the picture common to most terns, with a white space on 
the inner webs; their darker portions beautifully silvered over with hoary gray, which makes 
them appear paler than usual; shafts white above and below, except at extreme tips; feet 
appear to have been reddish or yellowish, certainly of some bright color. Wing 10.25; tail 
6.50; depth of the fork 2.75; bill along culmen 1.50; its depth at base 0.38 ; length of gonys, 
1.75; tarsus 0.90; middle toe and claw 1.05. A rare and remarkable species belonging to 
