144 



MARSH TERN 



of the crown white at the surface, but dusky below ; so that the 

 boundaries of the black, as it will be in the perfect bird, are clearly 

 defined ; through the eye a line of black passes down the neck for 

 about an inch, reaching about a quarter of an inch before it; the 

 bill is not so black as in the others ; the legs and feet dull orange, 

 smutted with brown or dusky ; tips and edges of the primaries 

 blackish ; shafts white. 



This species breeds in the salt marshes, the female drops her 

 eggs, generally three or four in number, on the dry drift grass, 

 without the slightest appearance of a nest \ they are of a greenish 

 olive, spotted with brown. 



A specimen of this Tern has been deposited in the Museum 

 of this city. 



