ARCTIC TERN. 
Sterna paradis.'Ea. 
Char. Mantle pearl gray ; darker on the wings ; rump and tail white ; 
tail deeply forked ; lower parts gray tinged with pearl gray almost as dark 
as the mantle ; paler on the throat ; bill and feet deep carmine. Length 
14 to 17 inches. 
In winter the lower parts are whiter, and the crown has more white 
than black feathers ; also the bill and feet are dusky. 
Nest. Un the sand of a sea-beach, often amid shingle or drifted sea- 
weed ; sometimes a slight hollow sparsely lined with grass or weed-stems. 
2-4 ; not easily distinguished from those of S. hirundo, but 
usually of a darker ground color and more heavily marked ; ground 
color varies from buff to huffish brown, and olive to olive brown, the 
markings of several shades of brown ; average size about 1.55 X I.i5. 
The name of this bird — like the names of too many other 
species — is misleading ; for while the bird ranges through the 
Arctic region and nests have been discovered as far north as lati- 
tude 82“ yet numbers breed on the islands of the Bay of Fundy 
and the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts. It is said to have 
been abundant in the last-named State some years ago. 
