TERNS 



(75) Sterna fuscata Linn. 



(Lat., dusky). 



SOOTY TERN. Ad.— As shown. 

 Bill and feet black; forehead, under 

 parts and outer tail feathers white. 

 Im. — Smoky-brown all over, lightest 

 on the under parts; coverts and 

 scapulars tipped with white; feathers 

 of back and rump margined with 

 buffy or dull rufous. L,, 16.50; W., 

 12.00; Tar., 7.50, forked 3.50; B., 1.80. 



Range — Breeds along the coast 

 of Texas, La. and Fla., and in the 

 Bahamas and West Indies. Wan- 

 ders north rarely to Maine. 



(76) BRIDLED TERN (Sterna 

 anaetheta). Accidental in Fla. and 

 S. Car. Breeds in the Bahamas and 

 West Indies. Similar to the last, 

 but white extends back of the eyes 

 instead of just to them. 



many of the natives as "Egg-birds," for their eggs are very 

 palatable and quantities of them are collected and eaten. 

 Since the birds will lay a second egg if the first is taken, this 

 practice is not as destructive as it might seem, provided 

 that toll is not taken from the same island but once a season. 

 A single egg constitutes a full set; this is laid in a hollow 

 scooped in the sand either in the open or under the slight 

 protection of grass or shrub. 



It is a pecuhar coincidence that the two smallest members 

 of the tern family should be respectively the very Hghtest 

 and the very darkest colored species. BLACK TERNS 

 are but a trifle larger than Least Terns and, as shown by 

 the colored picture, are largely black in summer. 



The technical name, meaning "Black Water Swallow," 

 is well chosen. Their food consists very largely of insects 

 and their flight as they course over the marshes greatly 

 resembles that of swallows. Dragonflies, large and small, 

 are greedily snapped up by the terns as well as many smaller 

 insects that abound in marshy places. Black Tern nests 



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