280 
ARCTIC TERN. 
occurred in June, when the birds ought to have been 
breeding. Forty specimens were taken to one bird- 
stuffer, thirty-three to another. A few common 
terns were said to be mixed with them, but Mr. 
Yarrell, who saw several specimens sent up to Lon- 
don, and who had a good deal of correspondence at 
the time regarding them, considers that the great 
proportion of the birds were Arctic Terns. This 
flight occurred on the 8th and 9th June, 1842 ; and 
it is stated that some specimens had not acquired 
the perfect black head. Now, all our birds would 
be at their stations and in full plumage by that 
season. May these not have been some almost Arc- 
tic colony later in assembling, and thus dispersed by 
the north-west gale which accompanied them ? 
In the Arctic Tern the bill is shorter than in 
either of the two preceding birds, and is entirely 
vermilion-red. The tarsus is comparatively shorter, 
and the leg is feathered to the tarsal joint, whereas 
in the others a small portion of the tibia9 are bare ; 
the forehead and crown not passing below the eye, 
and terminating in a rounded peak on the back of 
the neck, deep black ; the back of the neck, mantle 
and wings grey, the quills having the outer web3 
and the shaft half of the inner, blackish grey, — the 
outer web of the first black, the shafts of all strong 
and white. The rump white, the tail rather more 
deeply forked than the last, the feathers broader, 
white, except the outer webs of the two on the 
outside, which are blackish grey ; the under parts 
white, vent and under tail-covers pale blackish grey. 
