REMARKS ON THE STERNA INCA. 
The colouring of the Terns and Gulls is mostly plain, chaste and 
unobtrusive, gray or pure white, deepened in shade by a mixture of 
black or brown, or warmed by a tint of rose or pink, which fades 
almost with the life of the bird. The livery put on at the great 
season of breeding is confined to the head being capped with black 
or dark brown, generally affording a marked contrast to the usually 
pure plumage, or it is sometimes reversed in the dull spotting or 
streaking of the neck and head in winter, which gives place to an 
unsullied white during the full dress of summer. All ornament, by 
the elongation or addition of plumes or wattles is departed from, 
except in the species now before us; and from our want of know- 
ledge of its habits, we are unable to say whether the white plumes 
arising from the sides of the head are always present or only a 
seasonal adornment, or if the rudimentary wattles on the lips become 
then enlarged and more brilliant. 
The genera of the Terns recognised in the most modern works 
are, Sterna, Linn., showing perhaps the largest development of wing 
and tail, with the feet small, and which is illustrated by the ordinary 
form and habits of the birds of Great Britain and Europe; they 
feed chiefly upon fish. Hydrochelidon, Boie, is the least maritime 
of all; is of a slender form, but with less development of tail 
than Sterna ; the food is in a great part insects or aquatic larva. 
Pheetusa, Wagl., we do not possess; but it seems to be only a 
strong modification of Sterna, and less distinct in its form or habits 
than either of the two first, or of those forms we are about to notice. 
Gygis, Wagl.; the pacific form, remarkable for the attenuation of 
the bill; organs of flight are well developed ; the toes and claws 
are lengthened, but the connecting webs are only basal. Anous, 
Leach, is the more strictly pelagic type, petrel-like in its feet, and 
showing thus a form more adapted for a sojourn upor the ocean; in 
this respect materially contrasting with the other forms where the 
feet are small and often only partially webbed, giving place to the 
great development of wing and tail ; in this the tail is forked, but 
is at the same time graduated exteriorly, the outer feathers being 
shorter than the second or third; they feed chiefly on fish. 
In the beautiful bird before us, a bird which in its recent state 
and full dress must be truly lovely, its rich gray plumage contrasted 
yet blending with its bill of coral red, and relieved by the pure 
white stripe on the cheeks of curious elongated feathers, and the 
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