sooty tern

American  

noun

1. a black and white tern, Sterna fuscata, of small tropical islands.

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Etymology

Origin of sooty tern

First recorded in 1775–85

Example Sentences

The sooty tern lays its eggs on the ends of broken limbs of the breadfruit tree.

From Time Magazine Archive

Every year, when the sooty tern returned to the island to nest on the volcanoes, there was a bloody struggle over finding its first egg.

From Time Magazine Archive

Late in the afternoon we saw a flock of gannets, and some sooty tern; the gannets passing so near that we could hear the motion of their long twisted wings.

From The Island Home by Dalziel

Until 1909, the inhabitants consisted of the Laysan albatross, black-footed albatross, sooty tern, gray-backed tern, noddy tern, Hawaiian tern, white tern, Bonin petrel, two shearwaters, the red-tailed tropic bird, two boobies and the man-of-war bird.

From Our Vanishing Wild Life Its Extermination and Preservation by Hornaday, William Temple

The sooty tern is sometimes called the sea-swallow on account of its form and the power of flight.

From Wake-Robin by Burroughs, John