SOOTY TERN. 99
with different shades of pale brown and lighter tints of purple. The
female, while sitting, is fed by the male in a tender and affectionate
manner.
Male; length, one foot five inches; bill, black; from its base a black
streak goes back to the eye; forehead, white, 'ending in a concave
curve with a point over each eye;' head on the crown and sides,
neck on the back, and nape, sooty brown black; the sides of the neck
and the lower part of the sides of the head, white; chin, throat, and
breast, wdiite.
The wings, when closed, reach to within two inches of the end of
the tail; primaries, dark sooty brownish black; secondaries, also sooty
brownish black, but paler in colour on the outer e d g e s ; greater a nd
lesser under wing coverts, white. The tail, which is deeply forked,
has the outside feather on each side white on the outer web, the others
are white at the base; the long feathers are grey below; under tail
coverts, white; legs and toes, black; webs, black.
I n the young bird the tail has the outer feather on each side light
brown on the middle part, the base and the tip white.