What is "royal tern"

Royal \Roy"al\, a. [OE. roial, riall, real, OF. roial. reial, F. royal, fr. L. regalis, fr. rex, regis, king. See Rich, and cf. regal, real a coin, Rial.]

1. Kingly; pertaining to the crown or the sovereign; suitable for a king or queen; regal; as, royal power or prerogative; royal domains; the royal family; royal state.

2. Noble; generous; magnificent; princely.

   How doth that royal merchant, good Antonio?
   --Shak.

3. Under the patronage of royality; holding a charter granted by the sovereign; as, the Royal Academy of Arts; the Royal Society.

   Battle royal. See under Battle.

   Royal bay (Bot.), the classic laurel ( Laurus nobilis.)

   Royal eagle. (Zo["o]l.) See Golden eagle, under Golden.

   Royal fern (Bot.), the handsome fern Osmunda regalis. See Osmund.

   Royal mast (Naut.), the mast next above the topgallant mast and usually the highest on a square-rigged vessel. The royal yard and royal sail are attached to the royal mast.

   Royal metal, an old name for gold.

   Royal palm (Bot.), a magnificent West Indian palm tree ( Oreodoxa regia), lately discovered also in Florida.

   Royal pheasant. See Curassow.

   Royal purple, an intense violet color, verging toward blue.

   Royal tern (Zo["o]l.), a large, crested American tern ( Sterna maxima).

   Royal tiger. (Zo["o]l.) See Tiger.

   Royal touch, the touching of a diseased person by the hand of a king, with the view of restoring to health; -- formerly extensively practiced, particularly for the scrofula, or king's evil.

   Syn: Kingly; regal; monarchical; imperial; kinglike; princely; august; majestic; superb; splendid; illustrious; noble; magnanimous.

n. The seabird ''Thalasseus maximus'' (syn. ''Sterna maxima'').

The royal tern (Thalasseus maximus) is a seabird in the tern family Sternidae. The genus name is from Ancient Greek Thalasseus, "fisherman", from thalassa, "sea". The specific maximus is Latin for '"greatest".

This bird has two distinctive subspecies: T. m. maximus which lives on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the North and South America, and the slightly smaller T. m. albididorsalis lives on the coast of West Africa. The royal tern has a red-orange bill and a black cap during the breeding season, but in the winter the cap becomes patchy. The royal tern is found in Europe, Africa, the Americas, and the Caribbean islands. The royal tern lives on the coast and is only found near salt water. They tend to feed near the shore, close to the beach or in backwater bays. The royal tern's conservation status is listed as least concern.