GULLS AND TERNS: FORSTER TERN 
293 
Range. —Breeds in Lower California and western Mexico; wanders north after 
the breeding season to the southern coast of British Columbia; winters from northern 
California to southern Guatemala. 
State Records. —[An adult male Heermann Gull in breeding plumage was found 
dead on Pinos Altos Mountain, nine miles north of Silver City, and brought to R. T. 
Kellogg, March 20, 1919. So far as known it is the first record for the State.] 
SABINE GULL: Xema s&bini (J. Sabine) 
Description. —Bill gull-like, tail with a rounded fork. Length: 13-14 inches, 
wing 10.1-11.1, tail 4.5-5 (forked for about .6-1), bill 1, tarsus 1.2. Adults in breed¬ 
ing plumage: Hood dark gray , bordered by black collar; back gray, upper tail coverts 
and tail white; wings iricolored , with strikingly contrasted gray front, white back, and 
black quills; underparts white, sometimes flushed with pink; iris brown, naked orbital 
ring red, bill black, tipped with yellow*. Adults in muter plumage: Head and neck 
white, marked with dusky on ear coverts and back of head. Young in juvenal 
plumage: Most of head and mantle brownish, feathers tipped with buffy; rest of 
plumage mainly white but tail with wide terminal black band tipped with gray. 
Range. —Nearly circumpolar, breeding in arctic regions in North America, 
Europe, and Asia; in America from western coast of Alaska, northern parts of Mac¬ 
kenzie and Keewatin to northern Greenland; in migration on both coasts of United 
States and casually in the interior; winters in North America chiefly along the Pacific 
coast, casually and irregularly as far south as Peru. 
State Records. —Breeding in the Arctic region and wintering in South America, 
the Sabine Gull performs its extensive migrations for the most part along the coasts, 
but some wander across the interior and it has been taken in many States. The only 
record for New Mexico is that of a small flock seen by Birtwell, October 7, 1900, at 
Albuquerque (1901, pp. 112-113).—W. W. Cooke. 
TERNS: Subfamily Sterninae 
FORSTER TERN: Sterna fdrsteri Nuttali 
Description. — Length: About 14-15 inches, wing 9.5-10.3, tail 5-7.7, forked for 
2.3-5; bill 1.5-1.6, tarsus .9-1. Adults in breeding plumage: Top of head and nape 
wholly black; rest of upperparts, including deeply forked tail, pale gray; underparts 
wholly white; bill orange, tipped with black; feet and legs orange or orange red. 
Adults in winter plumage: Head white, with dusky stripe around eye and over ear; 
tail relatively shorter and broader; bill and feet duller. Young in first winter plumage: 
Like winter adults but upperparts washed with brown; tail feathers dusky terminally. 
Range. —Breeds on interior lakes from central Alberta, southwestern Saskatche¬ 
wan), Manitoba, and southern Ontario south to Illinois, Minnesota, northern parts 
of Nebraska and Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, and Oregon; also on coasts of 
New Jersey, Louisiana, and Texas; winters from California, Gulf coast, and South 
Carolina south to southern Guatemala; casual in Brazil; in migration on Atlantic 
coast north to Massachusetts. 
State Records. —The Forster Tern breeds locally across the whole of the 
northern United States and not rarely near Denver, Colorado. It is found in 
migration along the eastern foothills of Colorado and it is highly probable that some 
if not most of these individuals pass across New Mexico, but as yet there is no speci¬ 
men on record for the State. It is, however, doubtless this species which Henry 
records as common in September on the Rio Grande and as having been seen in 
August, 1854, at Fort Thorn.—W. W. Cooke. 
