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.
204. _Sterna melanogaster_: The Black-bellied Tern. (F. 1504), (J. 987), (-III, but with a long, deeply forked tail.)
Head black (with some white after the moult at Christmas), _abdomen black_. Cheek, chin-throat, and wing lining white. Rest of plum, age grey, paler on the tail than on the back. Bill orange-yellow; legs and feet dull red.
One of the commonest of the terns, especially inland.
205. _Sterna minuta_: The Little Tern. (F. 1510), (J. 988), (-II.)
A tern not much bigger than a sparrow, with a white forehead and black head, white cheeks and lower parts, grey wings, dark red bill and legs, is probably this species.
It is fairly common in N. India; rare in the south.
206. _Rhynchops albicollis_: The Indian Skimmer, or Scissors-bill. (F. 1517), (J. 995), (-IV.)
A long-winged, tern-like bird, which flies about in little flocks a few inches above the surface of the water, with white forehead, tail, and lower parts, and a white collar round the neck; rest of upper plumage dark brown. Bill deep red; legs bright red. (Illus. F. IV., p. 296.)