Plate CCCIX. Male.
Bill about the same length as the head, rather slender, bright
coral-red, towards the end black, the tip light yellow; feet
coral-red, lighter than the bill; wings slightly shorter than the
tail, which is very deeply forked; upper part of head and hind neck
half-way down, deep bluish-black, anteriorly tinged with brown; sides
of head, fore neck, and all the lower parts white, with a slight tinge
of greyish-blue on the breast; back, scapulars, and wings light
greyish-blue; edges of wings, rump, and upper tail-coverts white,
slightly tinged with grey; first primary with the outer web deep
black, the shaft white, on the inner web a greyish-black band running
along the shaft, narrow at the base, and widening, so as to occupy the
whole breadth of the web for an inch at the end, where it is hoary;
the next five with the outer web, and a varying portion of the inner
in nearly their whole length hoary, but with a dusky shade, becoming
more apparent at the end; the rest of the quills like the back, but
margined and tipped with white; tail-feathers with the inner webs
white, the outer of the colour of the back, paler on the middle
feathers, gradually deepening outwards, and on the outer feathers dark
grey. Young, in first plumage, with the bill dull greenish-black, its
tip yellowish, feet greenish-yellow; upper parts chiefly light brown.
In winter, the bill black, with the base pale orange, the tip
yellowish, the feet orange-yellow; the colour of the plumage as in the
adult, the forehead white, the rest of the head dusky, the upper parts
having the feathers slightly margined with lighter.
_Male_, 16, 31-1/2.
Breeds from Galveston Islands along the shores of the Atlantic to
Labrador, and as far north as Lat. 57°. Returns southward in autumn,
passing beyond the Texas. Extremely abundant.
Great Tern, Sterna Hirundo, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. viii. p. 76.
Sterna Hirundo, Bonap. Syn. p. 354.
Sterna Hirundo, Great Tern, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v.
ii. p. 412.
Great or Common Tern, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 271.
Common Tern, Sterna Hirundo, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p. 74.