Volume 19, Plate XXX / Ornithology (Birds)

Crested Tern

Sterna cristata

One of the largest terns, measuring fully twenty inches, its upper plumage all but white save grey quills frosted with white, and a rich orange bill. Deep black covers the head and front, broken by a white spot on the lower eyelid, the lengthened pointed nape feathers forming a crest, the deeply forked tail white above and below, and the black feet naked nearly an inch above the tarsus.