THE SOOTY TERN. 625 
The GtULL-billed Teen ( Sterna anglicd ), sometimes called Marsh Tern, inhabits the 
Eastern States, though not abundantly, and is also common to Europe. Its length is thirteen 
to fifteen inches. 
The Caspian Teen is much the largest of the tribe. It is known to both continents ; 
reaches our Middle States in winter. It is twenty inches in length. 
CASPIAN TEEN .— Sterna caspia. 
The Royal Teen is common along the Atlantic coast, and quite abundant southward. 
The Common Teen ( Sterna Mrundo) is the most common species. It is quite small, 
and swallow- like. It is common to both continents in the north, excepting on the Pacific side. 
The Aeotio Teen ( Sterna macrurd ) inhabits nearly the whole of Arctic and temperate 
portions of both hemispheres, and southward to the Middle States, in America. It breeds 
from Massachusetts northward. It is an extremely graceful bird, and readily attracts the 
attention of the observer, for its beauty and peculiar buoyancy. It breeds in great numbers 
in American harbor, Nova Scotia,. 
The Roseate Teen (, Sterna dougalli ) is a beautiful bird. It is equally common in both 
continents. In America it ranges from Massachusetts to Florida, and to the West Indies, 
breeding in the latter countries. 
The P oetland Teen was discovered in Portland harbor lately, but is now regarded as a 
variety of the latter. 
The Royal Tern, Elegant Tern, Cabot’s Tern, Trudeau’s, Forster’s, Aleutian, Least Tern, 
are well known in North America. The latter species is only eight inches in length, and is 
quite swallow-like in its flight. 
The Sooty Teen (Sterna fuliginosa) is remarkable for the excellent quality of its eggs as an 
edible, most gulls’ or Terns’ eggs being fishy or unpalatable. During a residence on the Florida 
Keys, as surgeon of the Military Prison, Fort Jefferson, we had occasion to know how valuable 
are these eggs. This bird congregates in vast numbers on the islands surrounding the Dry 
Vol. n.— 79. 
