STERN. 



495 



lengthwise, and pierced from part to part ; leg's small, naked to above 

 the knee ; shank very short ; four toes, the three fore ones reunited 

 by a cut membrane, the hind toe free ; claws small and arched ; tail 

 more or less forked ; wings very long- and pointed, the first quill the 

 longest.* 



STERN (Sterna nigra, Linnaeus.) 



Sterna fissipes, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 228. l.—Gmel. Syst. 2. p. 610.— Lath. Ind. Orn. 



2. p. 810. 23 — Sterna obscura, Gmel. Syst. 2. p. 608. 20 Sterna nigra, Briss. 



6. p. 211. 4 lb. 8vo. 2. p. 417.— Gmel,. Syst. 1. 608. 3.— Flem. Br. Anim. p. 



144 Temm. Man. d'Orn. 2. p. 749.— Sterna naevia, Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 609. 5. 



Sterna Boysii, var. A. — Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. p. 806. 10. — Larus niger Gesneri, 

 Raii, Syn. p. 131. A. 3. — Will. p. 269. — Larus niger fidipes alis longioribus, 

 Aldr. Raii, Syn. p. 131. 4. — Will. p. 270. 5. t. 68. — Larus minor, fidipes nos- 

 tras, Raii, Syn. p. 132. A. 6.— Will. p. 270. 4.— La Guifette, Buff. Ois. 8. p. 

 339. — Hirondelle de mer noiie, ou l'Epouventail, Buff. Ois. 8. p. 341. — Lesser 



Sea Swallow, Albin, 2. 90.— Black Tern, Br. Zool. 2. No. 256 lb. fol. 145. t. 



L*, 1. f. 1.— Arct. Zool. 2. No. 450.— Lath. Syn. 6. p. 366. 22.— lb. Supp. p. 



267.— Lewin's Br. Birds, 6. t. 206 Wale. Syn. 1. t. 122.— Bon. Br. Birds, 4. 



t. 74 Beivick's Br. Birds, 2. 203.— Brown Tern, Lath. Syn. 6. p. 368. 23. 



— Will. p. 382.— Mont. Orn. Diet.— Ib. Supp.— Sandwich Tern, var. A. Lath, 

 Syn. 6. p. 358. 



Provincial. — Cloven-footed Gull. Scare-Crow. Car Swallow. 



This species is less than the common tern ; weight about two ounces 

 and three-quarters ; length ten inches ; bill black ; irides dusky ; fore- 

 head, sides of the head beneath the eyes, throat, and fore part of the 

 neck white ; the rest of the head, back of the neck, and under part of 

 the body black ; back, wings, and tail deep ash-colour ; vent and under 

 tail coverts white ; the tail is less forked than in either of the other 

 species ; the outer feathers edged with white ; legs dull red, the webs 

 much indented or semipalmated. In some the forehead and fore part 

 of the neck are mottled with black ; and as most authors have omitted, 

 or at least have not made mention of any white on the forehead, such 

 is probably another variety. The female has no white about the head. 



The Stern has all the actions and manners of the other species, but 

 seems to prefer fresh -water fish and insects to marine. It breeds on 

 the verge of pools in swampy places, and never, that we could trace, 

 on the sea-shore, but frequently remote from the sea. It is found in the 

 fenny parts of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, and is called at this 

 last place car-swallow. They are plentiful about the reedy pools on 

 Romney Marsh, in Kent, where they first appear the latter end of April 

 or beginning of May, and breed in the sedgy places on the verge of the 

 pools ; and though very near the sea, are rarely seen on the shores till 

 after the breeding season, and then not commonly. It lays three or 

 four light olive-brown eggs, blotched and spotted with brown and black, 

 about the size of those of the magpie. On the sea-shore that bounds 



