414 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



[179.] 2, Sterna arctica. (Temm.) Arctic Tern. 



Genus, Sterna, Linn. 



Hirondelle de mer Arctique (Sterna arctica). Temm., ii., p. 742. 



Sterna arctica. Sab. (Capt.), Suppl. Parry's First Voy., p. ccii. Sab. (J.), Frankl. Journ., p. 694. 



Richards., Append. Parry's Second Voy., p. 356, No. 20. Bonap. Syn., No. 287 ? 

 Eeemeet-koteillak. Esquimaux. 



This species of Tern breeds very abundantly on the shores of Melville 

 Peninsula, and on the islands and beaches of the Arctic Sea. The eggs are 

 very obtuse at one end, and taper much at the other. They vary in colour from 

 light yellowish-brown to bluish-grey, and are marked with many irregular brown 

 spots of different degrees of intensity. They are deposited on a gravelly beach 

 or upon sand, and the parent birds shew as much anxiety for their safety and 

 boldness in defending them as the St. hirundo. The Sterna arctica is most 

 readily distinguished from the species just named by its shorter bill and much 

 smaller legs and feet. The comparative lengths of the tarsi and middle toes 

 and the colours of the tail feathers, will also assist in discriminating them. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a male killed at Great Bear Lake, June 7, 1826. 



Colour. — Upper plumage as in St. hirundo, except that the grey does not extend so 

 far back, but terminates at the rump which, with the tail and its coverts, is white, the outer 

 webs alone of the two exterior pairs of tail feathers being blackish grey. Quills as in the 

 St. hirundo *. Throat, breast, and belly, pearl-grey. Under eyelid, cheeks, chin, vent, under 

 tail-coverts, and insides of the wings, pure white. Long axillary feathers greyish-white. 

 Bill and feet scarlet, drying blood-red. In some specimens the bill is tipped with brown. 



Form. — Bill shorter than that of St. hirundo. Wings a quarter of an inch shorter than 

 the tail. Tail deeply forked, the exterior feather 3^- inches longer than the central pair. 

 Legs and feet very small. Thighs bare nearly a quarter of an inch. The middle toe without 

 its nail is exactly equal in length to the tarsus. 



The bird of the first year is described as follows by Captain Sabine, from two specimens 

 killed on the 8th of July in lat. 74°, from among a flock of full plumaged birds : — " Bill 

 black, lower mandible tinged reddish ; forehead, throat, neck, and inferior plumage, white, 

 slightly tinged on the breast and belly with faint ash-colour. The cap mottled black and 

 white ; the upper plumage ash-colour, the wing coverts indistinctly mottled with brown ; the 

 outer web of the first quill velvet-black at the base, shading into ash-colour ; the outer 

 feathers of the tail exceed the middle ones in length three inches ; the scapulars and 

 secondaries tipped with white; the colour of the legs in process of change from black to red." 



* The Sterna arctica of Bonaparte has the outer web of the first primary black. 



