STERN. 
495 
lengthwise, and pierced from part to part ; legs 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 (^Ster^ia 7iigra, Linn^us.) 
Sterna fissipes, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 228. 7. — 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. — Ib. 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. Rail, 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. — Llirondelle de mer noire, ou TEpouventail, Buff. Ois. 8. p. 341. — Lesser 
Sea Swallow, Albin, 2. 90. — Black Tern, Br. Zool. 2. No. 256. — Ib. fol. 145. t. 
L^, 1. f. 1. — Arct. Zool. 2. No. 450. — Lath. Syn. 6. p. 366. 22. — Ib. Supp. p. 
267. — Lewin’s Br. Birds, 6- t. 206. — Wale. Syn. 1. t. 122. — Don. Br. Birds, 4. 
t. 74 Betvick’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 
