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Remarks (Common Tern is closely related)

The Common Tern is closely related to Forster's Tern and also to the Arctic Tern. From the former it is to be distinguished by the color of the long outer tail-feathers. In the Common Tern the outer web of these feathers is always darker than the inner web; in Forster's Tern the inner web is always darker than the outer one. Adult Common Terns have the breast and belly washed with pearl-gray, while in Forster's Tern these parts are pure white.

The Common Tern differs from the Arctic Tern in having the bill tipped 營 TERNS. with black instead of being entirely red; in having longer tarsi, and in the color of the primaries.

Range.-"Greater part of the northern hemisphere and Africa; in North America chiefly confined to the eastern province" (A. O. U.). Breeds locally both on the coast and in the interior from the Gulf States to the Barren Grounds and Greenland.

Washington, irregular T. V., sometimes common. Long Island, common S. R., May through Sept. Sing Sing, casual in late summer. Cambridge, casual in Sept.

Eggs, three to four, not distinguishable with certainty from those of the preceding, but averaging paler and greener, and less heavily marked, 1.60 x 1.20.

It is five years since I visited the breeding grounds of the colony of Common Terns on Gull Island, L. I., but I can close my eyes and still feel the air vibrate with the harsh, half-threatening, half-pleading chorus of nearly two thousand excited voices. There is a dull, heavy, hopeless monotone, broken only by the scream of some half-maddened bird who fearlessly darts downward to protect its nest at my feet. A shot is fired; there is a moment of awe-struck silence, then, with renewed violence, the screaming is resumed. Pandemonium reigns: tearr, terrrr, swish! the air is full of darting, diving, crying Terns. It was useless to attempt to secrete myself. At no time during my stay did the outcry cease or hovering flock disperse. This little, barren, uninhabited, sandy island-only a few acres in extent and Muskeget Island, off the Massachusetts coast, are the only localities, from New Jersey to Maine, where the once abundant Common Tern, or Sea Swallow, can be found in any numbers. What an illustration of the results of man's greed and woman's thoughtlessness! The fickle fashion which indorsed the poor Tern's spotless plumage has long since found new favorites, and the sadly mangled pearl-gray feathers have gone to graves in the ash-heap. Now it is the Egret's turn.

Even the protection afforded by an insular home was not sufficient. Feather hunters, egg robbers, and self-styled oölogists came in boats to drive the Sea Swallows from their last resort; but the law interfered, and both Gull and Muskeget Islands now have a paid keeper whose duty it is to protect the Terns. 71. Sterna paradisæa Brünn. ARCTIC TERN. - Very similar in color to the Common Tern, from which it differs in having less gray on the shaft part of the inner web of the outer primaries (Fig. 61, d); in having the tail somewhat longer, the tarsi and bill shorter, while the latter, in the adult, is generally without a black tip. L., 15.50; W., 10.25; T., 7.50; Tar., 65; B., 1.30.