. Coloured illustrations of British birds, and their eggs . art of the back is black ; the wings, tail, vent, andtail-coverts as in summer, but the grey on the wings and ter- 108 STERNIDE. tials is darker; the beak is dusky black, with a livid colourat the base, and the legs and feet are dull coral red. In the winter plumage, the front of the face, neck, breast,and all the under parts are white ; before the eye is a crescent-shaped black mark; the top of the head, nape, and ear-coverts are spotted with black, owing to the centres of thefeathers being black, bordered with pale wood brown and pa
. Coloured illustrations of British birds, and their eggs . art of the back is black ; the wings, tail, vent, andtail-coverts as in summer, but the grey on the wings and ter- 108 STERNIDE. tials is darker; the beak is dusky black, with a livid colourat the base, and the legs and feet are dull coral red. In the winter plumage, the front of the face, neck, breast,and all the under parts are white ; before the eye is a crescent-shaped black mark; the top of the head, nape, and ear-coverts are spotted with black, owing to the centres of thefeathers being black, bordered with pale wood brown and palegrey; the back and wing-coverts are deep gull-grey; theupper part of the back ornamented with a small portion ofblack between the shoulders; the ridge of the wing is white,and the smaller rows of wing-coverts spotted like the top ofthe head. The primary quills are greyish black or slatecolour, the tips of some are soiled white ; the tertials palegull-grey ; the tail and coverts as in the summer. The legsand feet are orange yellow ; the eyes dusky w l ! GULL-BILLED TERN. 109 NATATORES. STERNIDJE. PLATE CCXCVII. GULL-BILLED TERN. STERNA ANGL1CA. The Gull-billed Tern is a rare visitant in Great Britain,and the few specimens recorded have been obtained on thesouthern coast of England. This bird seems chiefly toinhabit America, Asia, and Africa; specimens have been ob-tained from the United States, and Brazil, where it seems offrequent occurrence, although it is nowhere numerous. FromEgypt and Nubia some specimens have reached Europeanmuseums. In Hungary the Gull-billed Tern occurs annu-ally, but equally few in numbers, and it has been found tobreed in the well-known swamps of the Steppes of Hungaryand the lakes of Neusidel and Platten. The coasts of Illyriaand Dalmatia are also visited by this bird. That this species is migratory is evident, and that its ap-pearance in our climate only occurs during the months of Mayand September is well known, but where it principally re
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, bookidcoloured, booksubjectbirds
