532 THE TERNS. 



about 30.00; tarsus .66-87, and so, noticeably larger than 

 that of the Arctic, except in the points noted, the two species 

 are very similar, even to the voice. In habitat, however, 

 the Wilson belongs to the whole Atlantic Coast, breeding 

 more or less throughout its range. In New England it 

 breeds the most commonly of all its family. The black cap 

 is retained during the winter, but is more or less imperfect 

 in the young, which are also beautifully mottled with gray 

 and light-brown, with more or less dusky on the wing coverts 

 and tail. As in the young of the former, the under parts 

 are white, but the base of the bill and the feet are yellowish. 

 I found this species breeding in large numbers on one of 

 the Western Islands in Georgian Bay, and a few laying 

 their eggs on the muskrat houses on St. Clair Flats. I think 

 they breed in the higher regions of the Great Lakes, gen- 

 erally. 



Among the flocks of Terns on Flat Island, I was not a 

 little surprised to find a few of the Roseate Terns (Sterna 

 paradisea). From what I had learned in the books, I should 

 have scarcely expected to find this species as far north as 

 Portland, Maine. Even on the wing it was readily distin- 

 guishable from the rest of its kind. Some 1?. 00-16. 00 in 

 length, and so a little less than Wilson's Tern, its tail is at 

 least an inch longer, and its entire form is more slender and 

 graceful, so much so as to be noticeable even in the distance. 

 Other Terns appear almost clumsy in comparison with it. 



The bill is black, except, perhaps, a slight patch of orange 

 at the base below; the silvery curtain above is lighter and 

 more exquisitely delicate, even, than in the rest of the Terns; 

 the black cap extends well down the nape; the feet are dark 

 orange, and the under parts are white, tinted throughout, 

 even including the tail-coverts, with a delicate rose, the 

 texture and color of the plumage being such as scarcely to 



