BLACK MAKSH-TERN. 6o9 



vate ; secondary quills short, broad, incurved, rounded. Tail 

 of moderate length, emarginate ; the lateral feathers rounded, 

 as well as the rest. 



Bill brownish-black. Feet dark reddish-brown ; claws 



black. Head, neck, breast, and abdomen, greyish-black ; 



lower wing-coverts bluish -grey ; lower tail-coverts white ; 



upper parts dark bluish-grey ; outer web of the outer quill 



greyish-black. 



Length to end of tail 11^ inches ; wing from flexure 9 ; 



tail 3^ ; bill along the ridge ly\ I along the edge of lower 



mandible l-j% ; tarsus -f-j ; middle toe ^, its claw -j^. 



Female. — The female somewhat less, but otherwise like 

 the male. 



Habits. — This species is represented by authors as of very 

 extensive distribution, it having been found in Sweden, Ger- 

 many, Holland, Switzerland, France, Italy, the Caucasus, 

 Madeira, and the United States of America. It resides in 

 marshes, and on the margins of lakes and rivers, and, 

 according to M. Temminck, is very numerous in Holland, 

 and the great marshes of Hungary. In England it appears 

 to have been much more plentiful than it now is, some of its 

 principal breeding-places having been entirely deserted. It 

 is still, however, found in Kent, Lincolnshire, and occasion- 

 ally in other counties of England. It is mentioned in the 

 Statistical Account of Forfarshire as occurring in the Mon- 

 trose Basin ; but I am not aware of any other locality in 

 Scotland, although Mr. Edward informs me he saw two Black 

 Terns at Banff, which may have been of this species. 



It arrives in the beginning of May, and departs about the 

 end of September. It is said to feed on insects and worms, 

 as well as fishes. According to Montagu, " the flight of the 

 Black Tern is not very unlike that of the Goatsucker; its 

 evolutions are rapid, and its turns short, by which means it 

 sometimes escapes the talons of predaceous birds, as we had 

 once an opportunity of witnessing. In a very hard gale of wind 

 many Terns were sporting over the water, when a Peregrine 

 Falcon passed like a shot, singled out his bird, and presently 



