NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 41 



pure white and pale green to warm brownish-draB, Irregularly spotted and blotched 

 with brown, umber and lilac. 



70. COMMON TERN. Sterna Mrundo Linn. Geog. Dist.— Greater part of 

 the Northern Hemisphere and Africa. In North America chiefly confined to the 

 Eastern Province, breeding variously throughout its range. 



Sea Swallow, Wilson's Tern, Red-shank. "Mackerel Gull" and "Summer Gull" 

 are the names by which this beautiful species is known in various localities. It is 

 an abundant bird throughout its North American range, breeding on many of the 

 inland lakes and marshes as well as along the coasts. In various places on the 

 Atlantic coast it breeds in company with other species, such as Porster's, Arctic, 

 and Roseate Terns, the Laughing Gull and others. Mr. W. W. Worthlngton, of 

 Shelter Island, New York, writes me the following: "Although a few Wilson's 

 TernB breed on nearly every sandy point near here. Gull Island, situated a mile or , 

 BO east of Plum Island, is their chief breeding ground in this section. Here they 

 breed by thousands, fairly filling the air when you land and disturb them. Their 

 nests are always placed on the ground or rocks, and are usually composed of a few 

 pieces of grass and seaweed. They place their nests all over the island above high 

 water line, on the beach, on the sides of the bluffs, all around, and in the garden 

 cultivated by the llght-iiouse keeper. Fresh eggs can be obtained there from the 

 10th of June to the middle of July, as egging parties keep them cleaned off about as 

 fast as they are laid. I collected a set of four eggs of this species on Gull Island 

 last spring (1881), which is the only set I ever saw containing more than three eggs, 

 which Is the usual number laid." Mr. Worthlngton and Mr. M. C. Howe found two 

 sets each containing five eggs on Gull Island in the season of 1894. This is an 

 unusual number to a set. The eggs vary from greenish to deep brown, spotted and 

 blotched with brown, blackish and lilac; they vary in length from 1.49 to 1.75 by 1.18 

 to 1.30 broad. 



71. ABCTIC TEBN. Sterna paradisaea Brunn. Geog. Dist.— Northern Hem- 

 isphere; in North America breeding from Massachusetts to the Arctic regions and 

 wintering southward to Virginia and California. 



Throughout all Northern Alaska, both on the coast and in the interior, the 

 Arctic Tern is an abundant summer resident, breeding wherever found. In its 

 general appearance and habits, its mode of nesting, flight, and other characteristics, 

 this species closely resembles the Common Tern. Its distribution is, however, more 

 northern, breediaf in the most northern latitude, where 8. Mrundo is found only 

 in limited numbers. The eggs of both are indistinguishable. 



73. EOSEATE TERN. Sterna dougalU Montag. Geog. Dist. — Temperate and 

 tropical regions; north on the Atlantic coast of North America to Massachusetts, and 

 casually to Maine. 



On the Atlantic coast of North America this beautiful species is found breeding 

 from Maine southward to Florida. It is known also by the name of Paradise Tern. 

 On some of the islands of the New England coast this species breeds in abundance, 

 notably on Muskegat, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and Elizabeth Islands. In 

 many places it breeds in colonies with the Common and Arctic Terns and the 

 Laughing Gull. On a small island, called Goose Island, about three-quarters of an 

 acre in extent, situated in Long Island Sound, and a short distance from Faulkner's 

 Island, Mr. M. B. Grilling found this species nesting in abundance. The high land 

 Is from two to six feet above the beach, and Is covered with a thick growth of weeds 



