152 
STERNA AEANEA. 
well as above, and, during' summer at least, seems ** 
constitute the principal food of the present tern. 1“ 
several which I opened, the stomach was crammed wit'' 
a mass of these spiders alone ; these they frequently 
pick up from the pools as well as from the griiss, daships 
down on them in the manner of their tribe. The't 
voice is sharper and stronger than that of the comino*' 
tern; the bill is differently formed, being shorter, mor^ 
rounded ahovc, and thicker ; the tail is also muf® 
shorter, and less forked. They do not associate wit** 
the others, but keep in small parties by themselves. 
The marsh tern is fourteen inches in length, aO" 
thirty-four in extent ; bill, thick, much rounded abov^’ 
and of a glossy blackness ; whole upper part of th" 
head and hind neck, black ; whole upper part of th*' 
body, hoary white; shafts of the quill and tail-feather^' 
pure white ; line from the nostril under the e3'e, ao® 
whole lower parts, pure white ; tail, forked, the oute'' 
feathers about an inch and three quarters longer tb#" 
the middle ones ; the wings extend upwards of tw'® 
inches beyond the tail ; legs and feet, black ; hind to^> 
small, straight, and pointed. 
The female, as to plumage, differs in nothing frosj 
the male. The yearling birds, several of which I 
with, have the plumage of the crown white at th" 
surface, but dusky below ; so that the boundaries of 
black, as it will be in the perfect bird, arc clear'y 
defined ; through the eye a line of black passes doW* 
the neck for about au inch, reaching about a quarter 
an inch before it; the bill is not so black as in tb‘ 
others; the legs and feet dull orange, smutted wi*'” 
brown or dusky; tips and edges of the primarie”' 
blackish ; shafts, white. 
This species breeds in the salt marshes ; the fenio'*' 
drops her eggs, generally three or four in number, p" 
the dry drift grass, without the slightest appearance of '* 
nest; they are of a greenish olive, spotted with brouT’’ 
A specimen of this tern lias been deposited in tho 
Museum of this city [Philadelphia.] 
