THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 563 



367. — Little Tern [Kleine Seesciiwalbe]. 



STERNA MINUTA, Linn. 

 Heligolandish : Liitj Kerr = Little Tern. 

 Sterna minuta. Naumann, x. 145. 



Little Tern. Dresser, viii. 279. 



Petite hircmdelle de nier. Temminck, Manuel, ii. 752, iv. 464. 



It seems as though this pretty miniature Tern did not feel 

 itself equal to crossing the open sea, for in Heligoland it is of 

 quite exceptional and solitary occurrence — not a single example 

 having been either seen or shot during the last ten years. It 

 is even less partial to breeding by the sea than the preceding 

 species, preferring the estuaries of large rivers and inland waters. 

 Its northern range does not advance beyond Jutland and Denmark ; 

 but it is found nesting from Gibraltar within the whole area of the 

 Mediterranean, in Greece, Asia Minor, and Turkestan, and as far as 

 eastern India. 



368. — Caspian Tern [Grosse Seeschwalbe]. 

 STERNA CASPIA, Pallas. 



Heligolandish: Gioot Ken = Great Tern. 

 Sterna caspia. Naumann, x. 1 8. 



Caspian Tern. Dresser, viii. 289. 



Hirondelte de mer tschegrava. Temminck, Mannd, ii. 733, iv. 454. 



Although a small nesting colony of this stately Tern still exists 

 on the neighbouring island of Sylt, the birds only rarely cross over 

 to Heligoland. Its harsh raven-like cries have, indeed, been heard 

 on very rare occasions ; but the bird itself has only been killed here 

 once during all the time I have been collecting. That example, a 

 beautiful old bird, was shot on the 22nd of June ISSO, and is pre- 

 served in my collection. 



The breeding range of this Tern is of world-wide extent. Al- 

 though small numbers are found nesting on the coasts of the Baltic 

 and North Sea, its proper breeding zone is a pre-eminently southern 

 one: its nesting stations extend along the Mediterranean, the 

 coasts of Africa, Gulf of Persia, Caspian Sea, and the salt lakes of 

 Turkestan, as far as India and China, and thence south to Australia 

 and New Zealand. In America it breeds from Alaska and Labrador 

 southwards to California and Florida. 



