LARID.5. 



641 



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THE CASPIAN TERN. 



Sterna caspia, Pallas. 



This fine Tern, the largest member of the genus, is of more 

 irregular appearance on the coast of England than might be expected, 

 seeing that some of its breeding-places are at no great distance. 

 According to an excellent summary of its occurrences by Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney (Zool. 1887, p. 457), nine examples have been obtained — 

 and others have been observed— on the coast of Norfolk between 

 1825 and i860 ; while eight have been killed, at various times and 

 places, in Suffolk, Kent, Hants, Dorset, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire ; 

 and Mr. E. Bidwell saw an individual near the Fame Islands on 

 June 6th 1880. As regards Scotland, Mr. Oswin Lee states that 

 he made a sketch of one of two birds noticed at the Findhorn bar 

 on June 12th 1S87. From Ireland there is as yet no record. 



As a wanderer the Caspian Tern has been obtained at Vagoe in 

 the Faeroes on May loth 1S87 (Feilden). It breeds in colonies on 

 the sandy shores and islands of Sweden and Denmark, while a well- 

 known haunt is (or was) Sylt, one of the North Frisian Islands ; but 

 I believe that a few birds have nested still nearer to us, namely on 

 the coast of Holland to the south of the Maas, for I saw six adults 

 flying in pairs and evidently going out to fish, in the early dawn of 



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