276 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



to her care. She stood over them with ruffled feathers, and seemed to shake off 

 some drops of water on their little panting forms, and then raised her wings 

 a trifle to shade them from the hot sun. All this I saw at a distance of about 

 7 or 8 feet, and photographed some of it, the male meantime standing near by. 

 He then took flight, and she nestled over the chick nearest me, coaxing him 

 gently farther away by using her bill and calling the other, which finally 

 followed to her new position and settled by her side. 



Again the gentle twittering, and the father came down on the sand with a 

 tiny, bright, silvery fish. A little one stuck its head out between the mother's 

 wing and her body, the father courteously passed the fish to the mother, and 

 -she fed the chick, which begged for It with, open mouth. Again the bread- 

 winner winged his way over the sunny sea and returned with another fish. 

 Now the little ones were asleep under the mother's breast He offered her the 

 fish. She refused it. He flew away, but soon alighted and proffered it again, 

 only to be refused again. At last, having full assurance that his family did 

 not need food, he swallowed it himself. Where shall we look to find a lovelier 

 picture of happy, harmonious family relations than that shown here on this 

 desolate beach, beside the roaring surf? 



Plumages. — The colors of the downy young are very pale, to match 

 their sandy surroundings. They are practically white, tinged locally 

 above with "ivory yellow" or "pale olive buff," mainly on the 

 crown and wings; they are spotted or mottled on the head and back 

 with various shades of " mouse gray " ; the under parts are pure white. 

 When about half grown the juvenal plumage appears on the back 

 and then on the head, " pinkish buff " on the back with U -shaped 

 markings of "sepia" or "brownish olive," one on each feather. 

 The pure white breast -feathers appear at about this time, and the 

 dusky wing quills are growing rapidly. 



As the young bird attains its growth, in August, the colors be- 

 come grayer, " pallid mouse gray," or " pallid neutral gray " on the 

 back and wing-coverts ; the forehead and crown " pale olive buff," 

 with a dusky orbital and cervical crescent, and with numerous 

 subapical, U-shaped spots of "brownish olive." The wing quills 

 are gray, darker externally, and margined inwardly with white. The 

 lesser wing-coverts, particularly on the bend of the wing, are mottled 

 with dusky and the greater wing-coverts are white clouded with 

 " pearl gray." 



In the first winter plumage according to Coues (1877) the young 

 bird begins to resemble the adult, but differs from it as follows : 



It is somewhat smaller, with considerably weaker bill, the basal portions of 

 which are still more or less dirty flesh color. The forehead and vertex are 

 rather grayish-white than pure white, and the brownish-black of the nape is 

 interrupted with light grayish. The uniformity of the colors of the upper 

 parts is interfered with by the still remaining lighter tips of most of the 

 feathers, while some may yet retain the brownish subapical spots of the 

 avis hornotina. The tail has still some traces of dark subapical spots. It is 

 only in early winter that this particular plumage can be seen, for toward 

 spring the birds are hardly to be distinguished from the adults. 



