This is the largest of the terns. It is a white bird save for the fact that there is a good deal of black in the head. Its wings are pearl grey. Its bill is bright red. Its legs are black. Its tail is not very deeply forked. It goes about in pairs. It is local in its distribution.
It is common at Madras, and it is said to be particularly common in Sind. I have never seen it in the Punjab. Eha does not mention it as one of the birds of Bombay.
[202]. Sterna angelica: The Gull-billed Tern. (F. 1499), (J. 983), (+III, with a longish tail.)
Printer’s devils are particularly spiteful to this bird. In The Common Birds of Bombay they have mutilated its name into “gull-gilled.” In Bombay Ducks it appears as the “gull-bird tern.”
It is the least beautiful of the terns, being more heavily built than most of them.
In winter it is a white bird with grey wings and some black in the head. In summer its head is jet black. The bill, legs, and feet are black. Its tail is not very deeply forked.
It is found both inland and on the coast.
[203]. Sterna seena: The Indian River Tern. (F. 1503), (J. 985), (+III, with a long, deeply forked tail.)
This is the common tern of N. India, and frequents all the large rivers.
Its head and nape are deep black. The upper plumage French grey. Lower plumage very pale grey. Chin white, and a white patch on each cheek. Bill bright deep yellow. Legs red. This bird moults about Christmas time, and for a few weeks after the moult there is much white in the head, but this soon disappears.