SANDWICH TERN. 
81 
The winter plumage of the adult bird differs in having 
the forehead and top of the head pure white; the back 
parts of the head and nape are beautifully marked by the 
centres of the feathers and shafts being black, the edges 
pure white ; below the eye there is a crescent-shaped black 
spot; the rest of the plumage is as in summer; the yellow 
tip of the beak extends further, and the black part is not 
so deep in colour. 
The young bird of the year differs in many respects, 
and almost sufficiently to induce a young naturalist to 
take it for another species. The plumage of the head, 
to below the eyes and including the nape, is blackish 
grey, with brownish white edges to the feathers ; the fore¬ 
head and region of the eyes, whitish ; and the space between 
the beak and the eyes darkish; the chin, sides of the 
face, the back of the neck and all the under parts white, 
but tinged with dull yellow and apparently soiled. The 
scapulars and tertials are white, with transverse bars of 
dusky ferruginous brown formed by the transverse markings 
of the feathers; the wing-coverts are gull grey, darkish 
near the carpus, the lesser wing-coverts are marked with 
crescent shaped spots of dusky brown, the greater wing- 
coverts plain greyish ash with white tips; the quills are 
dusky black, with white edges on the inner webs and tips ; 
the tail, which is much less forked and shorter than in the 
adult, is blackish grey at the base, with black spots on 
the shafts, and the inner webs and tips white. The beak 
is livid black, and the gape flesh red, the legs and feet 
dingy flesh colour, the webs dusky, and the eyes pale 
yellowish brown. 
The egg figured 290 is that of the Sandwich Tern. 
