80 
STERNID.®. 
flat ground, and so close together are the broods that the 
sitting birds touch one another. 
The representation of the egg in our plate shows the 
size, shape, and colouring. The bird sits on them during 
the whole night, but only occasionally during the day, 
and, as in the preceding species, some few birds remain about 
the breeding-places to keep watch during the absence of 
the rest. It has been asserted that these birds, although 
laying two or three eggs only for a brood, will, when the 
eggs are taken out of the nest daily, continue laying for 
a fortnight; but we may venture to ask whether these 
are all eggs belonging to the same bird, or whether other 
pairs fill up the vacancy ? 
The Sandwich Tern measures eighteen inches in length, 
its beak two inches from the forehead to the tip ; the wing 
from the carpus to the tip, thirteen inches and a half. 
The summer plumage of the Sandwich Tern is as fol¬ 
lows : the entire top part of the head including the elon¬ 
gated occipital feathers black; the nape and upper part 
of the back, white ; the back and rump, the scapulars and 
wing-coverts, are pale bluish ash colour; the under parts 
are all white, tinged with a rosy hue on the fore-part 
of the neck and breast; the tail coverts and tail, white ; 
the lower scapulars and the tertial feathers are broadly 
tipped with white. The quills are deep ash-grey, bordered 
with white, the outer web of the first quill feather and 
one half of the second are nearly black or greyish black ; 
the beak is black with a yellow tip; the eyes are brown, 
the legs and feet black; the soles of the feet yellowish ; 
the claws are very much arched, hollow below and sharp 
edged on the inner side. 
The female has a shorter tail than the male, and the 
roseate tint on the breast is never so perfect. 
