Oct., 1886.] ELLIOTT SOCIETY. 123 



Without amplifjdng more, let us look at the most noticeable feature : name- 

 ly the tail. Taking age for age, and making all allowances for condition of 

 moult, forsteri will average longer in the tail and more deeply in the fork than 

 fliiti' itilis, thus coming nearer to the length of tail shown by Sterna macroura, 

 ( The Arctic Tern). 



But the constant feature, and one that will serve to mark the birds when all 

 others fail, is, that in forsteri, the outer tail feather, and most of the others, 

 have the outer web pure iDhite, and the inner web dark ; \fh\\& flumatilish.di'i the 

 outer web dark and the inner web pure white. 



These differences are constant in any plumage. 



The eggs of forsteri will average darker than those of fluviatilis, besides 

 being different in shape and style of marking. It is hard to describe these in 

 words, but to the eye the differences are apparent at a glance. 



It is only necessary to say that the pure coral beak of Sterna macroura, ( Arc- 

 tic Tern, ) the lower plumage and mantle being unicolor, and the longer and 

 more graceful sweep of tail, will at once distinguish it from fluviatilis or the 

 Euroi3ean hirundo, while the rosy breast, attenuated bill, and extremely long, 

 white, almost filamentous tail of Sterna dougalli, ( Roseate Tern,) mark it as 

 free from any near ally. In fact S. dougalli represents the maximum tail 

 among the Sterninm. 



S. forsteri is our most common Winter Tern, and the one usually seen flying 

 in the Harbor and among the wharves, in company with Larus 'philadel^pTiica 

 and L. delawarensis. 



OCTOBER 28th, 1886. 

 The President in tlie Chair. 

 Mr. Smyth read the folloT\dng 



Note on Sitta canadensis. 



BY ELLISON A. SMYTH, JR. 



On the 4:th of October, 1886, while collecting in Clarendon County, in a 

 thick swamp not far from the Santee River, I observed a small bu-d fluttering 

 and hopping, after the manner of a Dendroica^ about the terminal branches 

 near the top of a large Tupelo or Black Gum tree. The distance from the 



