150 



COMMON TERN. 



(Sterna Hirundo.) 



St. rostro pedibusque sanguineis, rectricibus duabus externis albo 



nigroque dimidiatis. 

 Tern with the beak and legs blood red, the two outer tail-feathers 



half black half white. 

 Sterna Hirundo. Linn. Syst. Nat. 1. 227. Gmel, Syst. Nat. 1. 



606. Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. 807. 

 Hirundo marina. Rnii Syn. 131. A. 

 Sterna major. . Briss. Orn. 6. 203. p^. \9.f. 1. 

 L'Hirondelle de mer pierre garin. Buff. Hist. Nat. Ois. 8. 331. 



pi. 27. Buff. PL Enl. 987. Temm, man. d'Orn. 481. Id. 



2 Edit. ii. 744. Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 521. 

 Greater Tern (or Common). Pe7in. Brit. Zool. 2. 254. pL 90. 



Lath. Gen. Syn. 6. 361. Leuu. Brit. Birds, 6. pi 204. IValc. 



Syn. l.pl.lig. Don. Brit. Birds, 1. pi. 23. Mont. Orn. 



Diet. 2. and Supp. Betv. Brit. Birds, 2. 129. Wils. Amer. 



Orn. vii. 76. pi Ixx.f. 1. Lath. Gen. Hist. x. 114. 



Length upwards af fourteen inches : its beak is 

 crimson, with its tip dusky : the irides are reddish- 

 brown : the forehead, top of the head, and the long 

 occipital feathers are deep black : the hinder part of 

 the neck, the back, and wings are bluish-ash : the 

 under parts are pure white, the breast excepted, 

 which is slightly shaded with cinereous; the quills 

 are whitish-ash tipped with brown-ash : the tail is 

 white ; with its two lateral feathers blackish-brown 

 on their outer webs : the legs are red. The young 

 after the first autumnal moult have the forehead and 

 part of the top of the head of a dirty white, marked 



