30 
BRITISH BIRDS. 
THE GULL-BILLED TERN. 
(Sterna Anglica.) 
This bird was first pointed out as a distinct species 
by Mr Montagu, it having before been confounded 
with the Sandwich Tern, from which, he says, it differs 
in a variety of respects. The bill is about an inch and 
a half long, thick, strong, and angulated on the under 
mandible like the bill of a Gull, and wholly black ; the 
upper part of the head, taking in the eyes, is black, 
which extends down part of the neck ; the upper parts 
of the plumage, including the tail and its upper co- 
verts, are cinereous, the outer feathers of the tail, on 
each side, only being white. The quills are hoary, but 
the tips of the first five are black, for an inch or more, 
without the smallest margin of white on that part ; part 
of the inner webs are white, but it does not quite reach 
the margins, the very edges being dusky for half the 
length of the feathers. The legs rather exceed two 
inches in length from the heel to the knee, their colour 
rufous black; the toes are longer than those of the 
Sandwich Tern, especially the middle one, and the 
claws unusually straight. 
