86 
LESSER TERN. 
four corners, on which the bird darting was entangled by the wings. 
But this must have been for mere sport, or for its feathers, the va- 
lue of the bird being scarcely worth the trouble, as they are gene- 
rally lean, and the flesh savouring strongly of fish. 
The Lesser Tern is met with in the south of Russia, and about 
the Black and Caspian sea; also in Siberia about the Irtish.* With 
the former, it inhabits the shores of England during the summer, 
where it breeds and migrates, as it does here, to the south as the 
cold of autumn approaches. 
This species is nine and a half inches long, and twenty inches 
in extent; bill bright reddish yellow; nostril pervious; lower man- 
dible angular; front white, reaching in two narrow points over 
the eye ; crown, band through the eye and hind head black, taper- 
ing to a point as it descends ; cheeks, sides of the neck and whole 
lower parts of the most rich and glossy white, like the brightest 
satin ; upper parts of the back and wings a pale glossy ash or light 
lead color ; the outer edges of the three exterior primaries black, 
their inner edges white ; tail pale ash, but darker than the back, 
and forked, the two outer feathers an inch longer, tapering to a 
point ; legs and feet reddish yellow ; webbed feet, claws and hind 
toe exactly formed like those of the preceding. The female nearly 
resembles the male, with the exception of having the two exterior 
tail feathers shorter. 
Pennant. 
