290 BIRDS OF EUROPE AND NORTH AFRICA 



Breeds. — W. Coast of Europe from NAV. Spain north to British 

 Isles, Faroes, Iceland, White and Baltic Seas ; also Macedonia, 

 Asia Minor, and sometimes Black and Caspian Seas. Winters 

 Iceland (few), British Isles (many), but principally on Medi- 

 terranean Coasts, W. Coast of Morocco, shores of Red Sea, and 

 east to India, and south to C. Africa. 



Haematopus niger meade-waldoi Bannerman. 



(^ $ Entirely black, except hidden bases of primaries, which 

 are white. Iris carmine red. Bill orange red. Legs and feet 

 red. Wing $ 260-263, ? 252-258. Tarsus 53. Bill ^ jyjj, 

 6 79-81 (H.). 



Reside?it. — Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Graciosa (E. Canaries). 



The typical race " H. n. niger" is S. African. 



LARI. 



Gulls, Terns, Skuas, and Scissor-bills. Nostrils 

 slit-like ; bill strong and horny ; oil gland feathered ; 

 10 visible primaries ; 12 tail feathers ; fore toes webbed ; 

 young covered with down when hatched. 



LARID^. 



Bill without cere, tip decurved (Gulls), straight and 

 tapering (Terns and Scissor-bills) ; sternum with two notches 

 on each side ; claws weak. 



Hydrochblidon. 



Marsh Terns; tail less deeply forked than in "Sterna," 

 and toes longer and only half webbed ; affect inland marshes 

 more than coast; nest in marshes on ground or on floating 

 herbage; eggs 3, ochreous clay or olivaceous, closely blotched 

 and spotted with purplish grey and blackish brown. 



Hydrochelidon nigra nigra (L.). Black Tern. Fr. 

 Guifette noire ; Ger. Schwarze Seeschwalbe ; Ital. Mignattino ; 

 Swed. Svart-Tarna. 



(^ summer. Above grey slate ; crown, face and nape black ; 



