STERNINJE. STERNA. 
231 
yellowish ; feet black, with the soles yellow ; tarsus an inch 
and a twelfth long ; tail much forked, shorter than the wings. 
In winter, the upper part of the head and the nape deep black. 
In summer, these parts white, spotted with black. Throat, 
cheeks, neck all round, hind part of back, tail, and all the 
lower parts, white, tinged with rose-colour, which is brighter 
in summer. Young with the upper part of the head varie- 
gated with black, white, and pale reddish ; fore-part of back 
and scapulars reddish, barred with blackish-brown; lower 
parts white ; bill livid, with the extreme tips yellowish. 
Male, 16, 33^, 12|, 2 T 3 ^, 1 T V, if, -i\. Female, 15|, 33. 
This species has a strong and rapid flight, and, except when 
engaged in incubation, is almost constantly on wing all day, 
uttering at intervals a grating cry, which can be heard at a 
great distance. It feeds upon small fishes and Crustacea, which 
it picks up from the water. It arrives about the middle of 
May, and departs by the end of September. A shallow hole 
in the sand or turf receives the eggs, which are three, in size 
about equal to those of the Golden Plover, being two inches 
and a twelfth long, of a cream or wood-brown colour, blotched 
with dark-brown and black, together with fainter markings. 
The species is very extensively dispersed along the coasts of 
both continents. With us, it is chiefly in the south-eastern 
parts of England that it occurs, but I have also obtained 
several specimens from the mouth of the Frith of Forth. 
Smaller and less robust than the Caspian Tern, it is consi- 
derably larger and stouter than the Common and Roseate 
Terns, from which it is at once distinguishable by its black, 
yellow-tipped bill. 
Sterna Cantiaca, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. 606. — Sterna Boysii, 
Lath. Ind. Ornith. ii. 806. — Sterna Cantiaca, Temm. Man. 
d’Ornith. ii. 735. — Sterna Cantiaca, Sandwich Tern, MacGil- 
livray, Brit. Birds, v. 
291. Sterna Hirundq. Common Tern. 
Bill about the same length as the head, rather slender, 
bright coral-red, towards the end black, the tip light yellow ; 
feet coral-red ; tarsus ten-twelfths long ; wings slightly longer 
than the tail, which is very deeply forked. In winter the 
upper anterior part of the head white, the hind part dusky. 
In summer the upper part of the head, and the hind-neck 
half-way down, deep bluish-black, anteriorly tinged with 
brown ; sides of head, fore-neck, and lower parts, wflite, the 
breast slightly tinged with greyish-blue ; back, scapulars, and 
wing-coverts, light greyish-blue ; edges of wings, rump, and 
