LARID^. 



639 



THE GULL-BILLED TERN. 



Sterna anglica, Montagu. 



This species was first made known by Montagu, from specimens 

 shot in Sussex, and, unaware that it was a mere visitor to our 

 shores, he bestowed upon it the inappropriate name of anglica. 

 Since the date of his discovery, examples have been obtained as far 

 north as Blackpool in Lancashire and the vicinity of Leeds in York- 

 shire ; in Norfolk no fewer than ten have been taken, and several 

 have occurred in Kent, three in Sussex, and one each in Hants, 

 Devon, Cornwall and Scilly : almost all of them in spring or 

 summer. A record from Ireland is the result of an erroneous 

 identification. 



It is not remarkable that this widely-distributed Tern should 

 occasionally visit England, seeing that it annually nests on the 

 Island of Sylt and a few spots on the west coast of Denmark. 

 In the Netherlands, Central Europe, and the north of France, it is 

 only of accidental occurrence, but it breeds at the mouth of the 

 Rhone, and abundantly in Spain on the sand-banks between Cadiz 

 and the Portuguese frontier ; while, though chiefly a migrant in Italy, 

 it nests on the salt-lagoons of Greece, Asia Minor, and the Black and 

 Caspian Seas. In similar situations it is plentiful from Morocco to 

 Egypt, and in the Red Sea ; in Asia it is found in summer as far 

 north as the Hoang-ho valley in Mongolia, and also breeds on the 

 islands of the Persian Gulf. In the cold season it visits India and 

 Ceylon, as well as Southern China and the Eastern Archipelago ; 

 while in the last the northern birds meet with individuals of a slightly 



