. A history of British birds . ; back of the head and napeuniform dusky-black ; back and wings pearl-grey; outer webof the first primary lead-grey; inner webs of all the primarieslight grey, almost white ; secondaries, tertials, scapulars,and small wing-coverts tipped with white ; upper tail-covertsand tail-feathers white, tbe three long tail-feathers on eachside wdth outer webs of slate-grey; throat, breast, and allthe under surface of the body and wings at this age nearlypure white; legs, toes, and membranes orange. Up toOctober all the upper parts are more or less barred withbrownish-grey,
. A history of British birds . ; back of the head and napeuniform dusky-black ; back and wings pearl-grey; outer webof the first primary lead-grey; inner webs of all the primarieslight grey, almost white ; secondaries, tertials, scapulars,and small wing-coverts tipped with white ; upper tail-covertsand tail-feathers white, tbe three long tail-feathers on eachside wdth outer webs of slate-grey; throat, breast, and allthe under surface of the body and wings at this age nearlypure white; legs, toes, and membranes orange. Up toOctober all the upper parts are more or less barred withbrownish-grey, which wears off with increasing age, and by thefollowing July, just previous to the moult, the black bill, thewhite forehead, the dark bar on the carpals, and the shortertail-streamers are almost the only signs of immaturity. The downy nestling when a few days old is rather lessbuff and more greyish than the Common Tern, and there isless black on the throat: otherwise there is little difference. 558 GA VIJ?. ■>\%!^^^^ :e^iL^ v>:^^\^<v^- Sterna minuta, Linnaeus.* THE LESSER TERN. Sterna minuta. This bird, the smallest of the British Terns, is not un-common during summer on such parts of the coast of theBritish Islands as are suited to its habits. It appears toprefer low flat shores, or islets, of sand, broken shells, orsmall shingle, coming here in May, and laying two or threeeggs before the end of that month in a small depressionscraped in the ground above high-water mark. TheAuthor found considerable numbers of this Tern at themouth of the Thames, on the Kentish side, about YantletIsland and the creek of the same name close by. Whentheir breeding-haunts are visited, they exhibit but little fear,settling on the ground not far from those who may be look-ing for their eggs or young, and will frequently walk about * S^st. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 228 (1766). LESSER TERN. 559 with a light step, or with a piping note again take fly with rapid beats
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Keywords: ., bookauthorsaun, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbirds
