TERNS 
167 
nest in the grasses. I have never found it in large colonies, but in scat- 
tered pairs. Its notes- are a lpng-drawn, reedy cackle and a tweet-tweet- 
tweet-tweet. 
70 . Sterna hirundo Linn. Common Tern (Fig. 24). Ads. in summer. 
— Whole top of head black; back and wings pearl-gray; inner border of 
inner web of outer primaries white, except at tip (Fig. 79, c); throat white; 
breast and belly pale pearl-gray; tail white, the outer webs of the outer feathers 
gray or pearl-gray; bill red at the base, the end third black; feet orange-red. 
Ads. in winter. — Similar, but front part of head and underparts white; bill 
mostly black. Im. — Similar, but back more or less washed or mottled with 
light brownish; lesser wing-coverts slaty gray, and tail much shorter. L., 
15 00; W., 10*25; T., 5'50; Tar., ‘75; B., 1‘40. 
Range. — N. Hemisphere, n. S. Am., and Africa. Breeds from Great 
Slave Lake, cen. Keewatin, and s. Ungava s. to sw. Sask., n. N. D., s. 
Wise., n. Ohio, and N. C.; winters from Fla. to Brazil; casual in migration 
on Pacific coast from B. C. to L. Calif. In E. Hemisphere breeds in Europe 
and Asia and winters in India and s. Africa. 
Washington, irregular T. V., sometimes common. Long Island, common 
S. R. on Gardiner’s Is., May 20-Oct. 15., Ossining, casual in late summer. 
Cambridge, very rare T. V. N. Ohio, S. R. in large colonies on islands in 
Lake Erie, May 5-Sept. 20. Glen Ellyn, irregular, uncommon T. V. May 
15-Sept. 9. SE. Minn., T. V. 
Remarks. — The Common Tern is closely related to Forster’s Tern and 
also to the Arctic Tern. From the former it is to be distinguished by the 
color of the long outer tail-feathers. In the Common Tern the outer web 
of these feathers is always darker than the inner web; in Forster’s Tern the 
inner web is always darker than the outer one. Adult Common Terns have 
the breast and belly washed with pearl-gray , while in Forster’s Tern these 
parts are pure white. 
The Common Tern differs from the Arctic Tern in having the bill tipped 
with black instead of being entirely red; in having longer tarsi, and in the 
color of the primaries. 
Nest, a slight depression in the sand, scantily lined with sea-weed or 
grasses. Eggs, 3-4, not distinguishable with certainty from those of the 
preceding, but averaging paler and greener, and less heavily marked, 
1*60 x 1'20. Date, Cobb’s Is., Va., May 28; Muskeget Is., Mass., May 28. 
It is many years since I visited my first breeding colony of Common 
Terns (on Gull Island, L. I.), but I can close my eyes and still feel the 
air vibrate with the harsh, half-threatening, half-pleading chorus of 
nearly two thousand excited voices. There is a dull, heavy, hopeless 
monotone, broken only by the scream of some half-maddened bird 
who fearlessly darts downward to protect its nest at my feet. A shot 
is fired; there is a moment of awe-struck silence, then, with renewed 
violence, the screaming is resumed. Pandemonium reigns: tearr , tearrr, 
swish! the air is full of darting, diving, crying Terns. It was useless to 
attempt to secrete myself. At no time during my stay did the outcry- 
cease or hovering flock disperse. 
It was only after I had exchanged a gun for a camera that I learned 
how quickly Terns will go back to their nest if one will conceal oneself 
in a blind, which in itself may be conspicuous enough, if it be motion- 
less. Then one learns that the tearrr note of alarm and protest gives 
way to a great variety of calls incident to the activities of the birds 
when not disturbed; for example, a sharp chirp not unlike that of a 
