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Range (Northern hemisphere in North)

"Northern hemisphere; in North America, breeding from Massa- TERNS. chusetts to the arctic regions, and wintering southward to Virginia and California" (A. O. U.). Long Island, rare in summer.

Eggs, three to four, not distinguishable with certainty from those of the preceding, 1.62 x 1.15.

Comparing the notes of this bird with those of the Common Tern, Mr. Brewster writes: "Their notes are similar, but several of them can be distinguished. The usual cry of S. macrura [=paradisœa] corresponds to the tearr of S. hirundo, but is shriller, ending in a rising inflection, and sounding very like the squeal of a pig. The bird also has a short, harsh note similar to that of Forster's Tern. At any distance within fair gun-range I could usually separate it from Wilson's [= Common] Tern by its longer tail, and by the uniform and deeper color of the bill. In flight and habits the two seemed to me identical" (Birds Observed on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., xxii, 1883, p. 402). 72. Sterna dougalli Montag. ROSEATE TERN. Ad. in summer.- Top of head black; back and wings pearl-gray; outer web of outer primaries and shaft part of the inner web slaty black (Fig. 61, e); under parts white, generally delicately tinted with pinkish; tail pure white; bill black, the base reddish; feet red. Ad. in winter. - Similar to the above, but front of the head white, more or less streaked or spotted with black; under parts pure white. Im., first plumage." Pileum and nape pale buffy grayish, finely mottled or sprinkled with darker, and streaked, especially on the crown, with dusky; orbital and auricular regions dusky blackish; remainder of the head, extreme lower part of the nape, and entire lower parts white, the nape, and sometimes the breast, finely mottled with buffy gray; back, scapulars, wingcoverts, rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail pale pearl-blue, the back and scapulars overlaid with pale buff irregularly mottled with dusky, each feather with a submarginal dusky V-shaped mark; primary coverts and primaries dark bluish-gray edged with paler, the inner webs of the latter broadly edged with white; tail-feathers marked near their ends much like the longer scapulars, their outer webs rather dark grayish; bill brownish dusky; feet dusky." L., 15.50; W., 9.50; T., 7.50; B., 1.50 (B., B., and R.).