The Arctic Tern 
along our coast, in limited numbers, and in this my experience concurs. 
Our uncertainty is heightened by the fact that no nesting colony of the 
species has ever been reported from the Pacific Slope, not even from 
Alaska; and it would appear probable that birds nesting in the Canadian 
interior, as at Great Slave Lake, are finding their way to our coast in 
increasing numbers. There are spring as well as fall records for Califor¬ 
nia, but no breeding nor winter records. 
No. 288 
Arctic Tern 
A. O. U. No. 71. Sterna paradisaea Briinnich. 
Synonyms.— Paradise Tern. Crimson-billed Tern. Portland Tern. 
Description. —Adult in breeding plumage: Wings, tail, and black of head much 
as in preceding; mantle deep pearl-gray; lower rump and upper tail-coverts pure white; 
underparts deep pearl-gray tinged with lavender, clearing to white only on lining of 
wings, lower tail-coverts, and on sides of head adjacent to black cap. Bill bright 
carmine, sometimes faintly tipped with blackish; feet rich carmine. Adult in winter 
plumage: Similar, but underparts white; forehead, fore-crown, and lores, anteriorly, 
white; crown mixed black and white, and remaining black of cap a little broken. Bill 
black or with mere traces of red. Immature: Similar to adult in winter and much as 
in preceding species, but dusky crescentic subterminal markings of feathers on back, 
scapulars, etc., heavier and darker, their terminal skirtings ashy rather than buffy; the 
outer webs of two outer pairs of tail-feathers darker in tone, dusky rather than deep 
pearl-gray; the lores white as to ground, but sharply and finely streaked with dusky. 
Bill redder in tone basally. Length of adult: 355.6-431.8 (14.00-17.00); wing 254- 
273.1 (10.00-10.75); tail 165.1-215.9 (6.50-8.50); forked 101.6-127 (4.00-5.00); bill 
30.5 (1.20); depth at angle 5.9 (.23); tarsus 15.6 (.61). 
Recognition Marks. —Size of preceding; darker; tail more deeply forked, its 
outer feathers gracefully streaming; bill pure carmine in spring, red to black in fall 
migrations; smaller and slenderer than that of S. hirundo. 
Nesting.— Does not breed in California. Nest and Eggs much as in 5 . hirundo, 
but coloration of eggs averaging darker, deep olive-buff. Av. size 40.6 x 27.9 (1.60 
x 1.10). 
General Range. —Coasts of both hemispheres during migrations, summering 
in the Northern Hemisphere, chiefly in the Arctic regions, but breeding, in North 
America, from Maine (formerly Massachusetts) and northern British Columbia 
northward; wintering chiefly in Antarctica, but also along both coasts of South America. 
Occurrence in California. —Fairly common migrant coastwise or well off 
shore—observed only in the autumn. 
Authorities.—Lawrence (Sterna pikei ), Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N. Y., vol. vi., 
1853, p. 3 (Monterey); Beck, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 4, vol. iii., 1910, p. 64 (off 
Monterey; migr.); Pierce, Condor, vol. xxi., 1919, p. 125 (Laguna Beach); C. W. Town¬ 
send, in Bent, U. S. Nat. Mus., Bull. no. 113, 1921, p. 249 (life hist.; desc. and photos 
of nest and eggs, etc.). 
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