88 
STERNID.E, 
given, we do not intend to enter upon, as there is no cer¬ 
tainty yet obtained on the subject by any ornithologists, 
either respecting their winter quarters, or their principal 
numerical congregations in the summer months. 
The general appearance of the Roseate Tern is very 
beautiful, and so very different from that of all other British 
species, owdng to its narrower wings, and the greater length 
of its outer tail-feathers, that a person who has once seen this 
bird is not likely to mistake it for any other; its flight is 
extremely elegant, in the performance of which its tail- 
feathers appear like silken streamers. 
By nature this bird is shy, even during the breeding- 
season ; it flies to a height secure from gun-shot on the 
approach of man. 
The call-note of the Roseate Tern, is a long-drawn 
expression that sounds like creeee^ and consequently also 
different from that of the common tern, which sounds very 
much like the call-note of the corn-crake. 
The food of this bird consists of fish, which it catches 
in the same manner as other terns. 
The reproduction of the species is carried on either on 
sandy or shingly flats, and the eggs are deposited in a nest 
on the ground, among some low herbage, and seems more 
carefully arranged than that of other terns. 
The eggs are two in number; in size and markings as 
represented in our plate ; the colour of the fresh-laid egg 
is yellowish-olive green, but in collections the colour changes 
to yellow, as represented. 
The measurements of the adult bird are as follows ; entire 
length, fifteen inches and a half; the beak, from the fore¬ 
head, one inch seven lines and a half; the tarsus nine lines, 
and the wing, from the carpus to the tip, nine inches and a 
quarter. 
