76 TERNs

to twenty feet from the ground. Eggs, three to four, grayish olive with a greenish tint and small clove-brown spots, chiefly about the larger end, 1'97 x 1'40 (B., B., and R.).

“The flight is easy and graceful, each stroke of the long, pointed wings throwing the body up a little, while the bird peers this way and that in quest of its small prey. If it fly toward one, the white front of its wings, added to its white breast and neck, gives it the appear- ance of a white bird with a black head. It often has a noticeable way of turning partly around or cutting backward as it drops in securing some object detected on or near the surface of the water, thus making it appear decidedly lithe and agile on the wing ” (Langille).

The LITTLE GULL (60'1. Larus minutus), a European species, has been taken only once in America—on Long ,Islund, in September, 1887 (Duteher, Auk, v, 1888, p. 171).

Boss’s GULL (61. Rhodostethia rosea), an arctic species, is known from Point Barrow, Alaska; Melville Peninsula, England, Faroes, and Heligoland; but has been found in numbers only at the first—mentioned locality. (See Murdoch, Rep. of the Exp. to Point Barrow, p. 123.)

62. Xema. sabinii (Sub) SABINE’s GULL. Ad. in gunmen—Whole head'and throat slate-color, bordered posteriorly by black ; back and sides of the neck, under parts, except throat, and slightly forked tail pure white; back and wings dark pearl—gray; secondaries tipped with white ; first primary black, the inner half of the inner web, except at the end, white; second to fourth primaries similar, but tipped with white; bill black, the end yellow. Ad. in whim—“Similar to the summer plumage, but the head and neck white, except oeciput, nape, and auricular region, which are dull, dusky plumbeous’7 (B.,B.,and R.). Im.—-Forehead and lores white, rest of the upper parts ashy brown, the feathers slightly tipped with whitish ; tail white, broadly tipped with blackish; under parts white. L., 1400; W., 10-50; T., 4230; B., 95. ,

Range—Arctic regions, in winter migrating only a short distance south- ward and rarely reaching the United States.

Long Island, A. V., one record.

Nest, of grasses, etc., on the ground. Eggs, two to five, deep olive (vary— ing in intensity, however), rather indistinctly spotted or blotched with brown, 1‘78 x 1'26 (Ridgw.).

This boreal species is of rare occurrence in the northern United States in the winter.

Subfamz'ly Sterninw. Tems.

Terns are littoral; never, I believe, pelagic. They inhabit the shores of bodies of both fresh and salt water, but are more abundant on the seacoast than in the interior. Their principal characters, as compared with the Gulls, are mentioned under the subfamily Lam'mza. Their