PRAT.2£ LAs 
Scare-Crow. Raii Syn. p. 131. A. 3. 
Black cloven-footed Gulls. /dem. 132. N° 6. 
Will. Orn. 354. §- 4.6. pl. 78. 
L’Hirondelle-de-Mer noire, ou |’Epouvantail. Bri. Orn. 6. p. 211.4. 
Buff. Oif. 8. p.£34y, 
—— Pl. enl. 333. 
Kleinote Moewe. Frifch. 2. 220. 
Sizlandis Glitter. Brunnich, 153. 
re Ta SEE 
The length of this fpecies is commonly about ten inches: breadth 
twenty-four: weight two ounces anda half. The male is known 
by a white fpot under the chin. Mr. Latham mentions a variety, 
(Var A) in which the lower part of the breaft, belly, thighs, under 
Wing coverts and vent are white; and in fome fpecimens of the 
common kind the white at the vent is {pread towards the thighs. 
The webs of the feet are depreffed, and form a crefcent: the colour 
of the legs feem to vary ; our bird had f{carcely any of the red tinge 
in the black colour. 
Thefe birds frequent our fhores in fummer. Latham fays they 
are obferved on the coafts of Kent in a few days after the other 
terns; and, as they differ fomewhat in their manners, do not affociate. 
They are found during fpring and fummer in vaft numbers in the 
fens of Lincolnfhire. “The eggs are three or four in number, of 
a greenifh or olive colour, {potted with black, and have alfo a band 
of the fame colour about the middle. Thefe eggs are depofited 
among the reeds in fens and other marfhy places, The food is in- 
feGts and fmall fifh, which it procures by hovering over the water, 
and darting on its prey in the fame manner as moft other birds of 
the fame genus. | 
It 
