MARSH TERN. 
181 
in extent ; bill, thick, much rounded above, and of a glossy 
blackness ; whole upper part of the head and hind neck, black ; 
whole upper part of the body, hoary white ; shafts of the quill 
and tail-feathers, pure white ; line from the nostril under the 
eye, and whole lower parts, pure white ; tail, forked, the outer 
feathers about an inch and three quarters longer than the 
middle ones ; the wings extend upwards of two inches beyond 
the tail ; legs and feet, black ; hind toe, small, straight, and 
pointed. 
The female, as to plumage, differs in nothing from the male. 
The yearling birds, several of which I met with, have the 
plumage of the crown white at the surface, but dusky below ; 
so that the boundaries of the black, as it will be in the perfect 
bird, are clearly defined ; through thCsCye a line of black passes 
down the neck for about an inch, reaching about a quarter of 
an inch before it ; the bill is not so black as in the others ; the 
legs and feet, dull orange, smutted with brown or dusky ; tips 
and edges of the primaries, blackish; shafts, white. 
This species breeds in the salt marshes ; the female drops 
her eggs, generally three or four in number, on the dry drift 
grass, without the slightest appearance of a nest ; they are of 
a greenish olive, spotted with brown. 
A specimen of this tern has been deposited in the Museum 
of this city [Philadelphia.] 
2. S. Arctica, Temm. — (^North. Zool. p. 114.) Bonaparte expresses a 
doubt that this is the true Arctica of Temm. ; and the description in the 
Northern Zoology points out some discrepancies. 
3. S. stolida. Migrates to the North American coasts. 
Phaoeton, Linn. 
These birds, from general appearance, appi'oach near to the terns, {S. Cas- 
pia^) but from the want of specimens, I am unable to enter into the proper 
situation of^^the form, except from the authority of others. Bonaparte places it 
between sula and plotus. The only American species is, 
1. P. cEthereus, Linn, tropic bird of Wilson’s list. Common during sum- 
mer on the coasts of the southern states^— Ed. 
