638 WHISKERED TERN. 



in Italy the bird is well known on passage ; there are important 

 colonies in the swamps of the Danube, as well as in Turkey, Greece 

 and the southern districts of Russia ; and a few pairs occasionally 

 nest as far north as the morasses near Lublin in Poland. In North 

 Africa, from oNIorocco to Egypt, the Whiskered Tern is abundant in 

 suitable localities, and it has been found in the months of our winter 

 in full breeding-plumage, as well as in immature dress, as far as the 

 Cape of Good Hope. In Asia it is distributed from the Mediterranean 

 to jMongolia, and nests freely in Northern India, while southward 

 it reaches the Moluccas. There the northern birds seem to meet with 

 those which I believe to have been bred in Australia ; the winter- 

 plumage of the latter being slightly paler than that of our northern 

 examples, although I can find no difference between adults in 

 nuptial dress from Queensland and from Europe. A young bird 

 brought from Barbados by Schomburgk is in the British Museum. 



Like its congeners, this Tern breeds in colonies ; its nest being 

 often a large tangled mass of growing weeds pulled together on the 

 surface of the water. The eggs, 3 in number, are usually of a pale 

 green ground-colour, though sometimes stone-grey or buff, spotted, 

 blotched or scrolled with brown and black : measurements i"55 by 

 I "IS in. In Europe incubation commences in May, but July is the 

 usual month in India. The food consists of dragon-flies, grass- 

 hoppers, caterpillars, aquatic beetles &c., as well as of newts, small 

 fish and frogs. The flight is buoyant, but not very swift. 



The adult in breeding-plumage has the forehead, crown and nape 

 black ; from the gape to the nape a broad white stripe which forms 

 the ' whisker ' from which the bird derives its trivial name ; upper 

 parts slate-grey, darker on the shoulders and primaries, except when 

 the latter are frosted with pearl-grey ; chin and throat greyish-white ; 

 breast slate-grey ; belly and flanks nearly black ; under wing-coverts 

 pure white ; axillaries white with a tinge of grey ; bill blood-red ; 

 legs, feet and webs vermilion, the webs less indented than in 

 H. leucoptera. Length 11 in. (bill i'4), wing 9-25 to 9*5 in. Indian 

 birds, which are probably almost sedentary, are smaller than 

 Western examples, which evidently take long journeys to South 

 Africa. In winter the forehead and under-parts are white ; the 

 crown, nape and ear-coverts being only streaked with black ; while 

 the mantle is paler than in summer, and is sometimes of a delicate 

 pearl-grey. The summer-dress is assumed by a moult, which com- 

 mences in February or March. 



This and the two foregoing species constitute the natural sub- 

 division of " Marsh-Terns." 



