BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA 
17 
“ young .—The head is white, marked on the hind head and neck with bluish-gray ; 
a spot of the same color over the ears ; a narrow" crescent of black in front of the eye ; 
wings and shoulders marked with black ; primaries black ; tail white, with a sub¬ 
terminal black band ; bill black ; rest of the plumage same as in adult.”— Baird's 
Birds of N. A. Length about 171 inches ; extent about 35 inches. 
Habitat. —Arctic regions, south in eastern North America in winter to the great 
lakes and the Middles States. 
Accidental winter visitant. About ten years ago the late Henry B. 
Graves, of Berks county, mounted a young Kittiwake, which had been 
captured near Lancaster city in midwinter. Mr. Joseph Krider, of 
Philadelphia, has in his collection one of these birds which was shot 
several years ago near Philadelphia by the late John Krider. Dr. A. C. 
Treicliler, of Elizabethtown, mentions this species as a straggler in 
Lancaster county, Pa. The Kittiwake is a common bird in the Arctic 
regions, and in winter this species wanders irregularly southward along 
the Atlantic coast as far as New Jersey, where it is quite rare. 
Subfamily STERNI1LE. Teens. 
THE TERN. 
While these birds are most abundant on the seacoast, neighboring bays and inlets, 
they are not exclusively maritime; many frequent, during migrations, inland 
waters (large lakes commonly) where some also remain during the summer to rear 
their young. None of the Terns are know n to breed in Pennsylvania. Although 
quite a number of these birds—known commonly about the seashore as “Sea 
Swallows”—have been taken by various naturalists and collectors, in this state, 
during migrations, none, according to my observations, can be said to occur through¬ 
out this commonwealth as regular or common spring and fall migrants. Several 
species are common on the coast of New Jersey during migrations, and some are 
also found there as summer residents. Almost every year, in the spring, late sum¬ 
mer and in the autumn, after severe stormy weather, Terns of different kind are 
frequently noticed about the rivers, lakes and ponds in the interior, principally, 
however, in the eastern sections of the state. These birds, it would appear, have 
been, by force of the elements rather than their own inclinations, compelled to leave, 
temporarily, their chosen haunts in the vicinity of the ocean. 
At Lake Erie some species of this subfamily are found as common migrants ; in 
the harbor at Erie city two or three species are more or less common every spring 
and fall. This is the only section in Pennsylvania, so far as I have been able to 
learn, where Terns are seen with any degree of certainty during migrations. Terns, 
with a few exceptions, are much smaller than Gulls, from which they differ also in 
having straight, slender, sharp-pointed bills, and mostly, conspicuously forked 
tails. The sexes are quite similar in size and color, but the young and old birds in 
fall and winter show great variations in coloration ; wings long, narrow and pointed ; 
the flight is buoyant and graceful. They seem to be almost continually on the wing, 
and sometimes are seen out at sea many miles from land. Terns are unable to dive; 
their feet are webbed, but they are scarcely ever seen on the water ; it is said they 
never swim from choice. These birds walk but little, though they often alight on 
the beach, sand-bars and rocks. Terns, especially the larger kinds, subsist princi¬ 
pally on little fish ; some of the smaller species, in addition to small fish, feed to 
some extent on insects. When in quest of prey they frequently make extensive circuits 
over the ocean, bays, brackish ponds and marshy places ; in flying over the water, 
searching for food, they invariably are seen with the bill pointing straight down, 
ward ; this, as Dr. Coues writes, “ makes them look like colossal mosquitoes.” They 
2 Bikds. 
