648 COMMON TERN. 



breed in most seasons. In Ireland it is the more plentiful bird in 

 the south, while it appears to rival the Arctic Tern in the north, and 

 it frequently nests by the margin of fresh water. It usually reaches 

 England about the end of April, and the autumnal migration lasts 

 from August to October, while on passage this Tern may often be 

 observed on rivers and inland waters, even in London. 



During the warmer months this species is widely distributed on 

 the coasts, rivers and lakes of Europe, from Norway to the Medi- 

 terranean, Black and Caspian Seas ; as well as in North Africa, and 

 westward to the islands of the Atlantic. x\cross that ocean it breeds 

 abundantly in North America from Labrador to Texas, though 

 scarcely known on the Pacific coast ; while it has been obtained at 

 Bahia, Brazil, in winter. At that season it can be traced down the 

 west side of Africa to Cape Colony, and in Asia to India, Ceylon 

 and the jNIalay Peninsula ; it is also found in summer across the 

 temperate regions of Asia : but birds from the area between the 

 Caspian and the elevated lakes of Kashmir, Tibet and Southern 

 Siberia have a more vinaceous tint on the under-parts, with smaller 

 bills and feet than the strictly maritime examples. 



The eggs, 3 in number, are laid on sand, shingle, dry wrack or 

 short herbage, a few crossed bents being occasionally added ; they 

 vary in colour from dull grey to stone-buff, blotched with bluish-ash 

 and dark brown: measurements 17 by I'l in. Exceptionally eggs 

 have been found by IMay 15th, but incubation hardly becomes 

 general until the early part of June. On the approach of an intruder 

 the parents utter a sharp piri-e or kik-kik, and when their young are 

 hatched they will often skim over the spot and drop small fish close 

 to the nestlings, whose mottled colour renders them almost indis- 

 tinguishable from the surrounding shingle. The food consists of 

 young coal-fish, sand-eels, shrimps and other crustaceans. 



The adult in summer has the bill orange-red, with a horn-coloured 

 tip ; head and nape black ; mantle dark pearl-grey ; rump whitish ; 

 tail-feathers white, with grey outer webs, those of the streamers 

 being darkest ; breast and belly pale vinaceous-grey ; legs and feet 

 coral-red. In winter the forehead is sprinkled with white, the 

 under-parts are whiter, and the colours of the bill and feet are 

 duller. Length i4"25 in. (bill 17, tail 6-5), wing io'5 in. The 

 young bird has the crown and nape streaked with blackish-brown ; 

 mantle with ash-brown bars, which gradually disappear, till only a 

 dark band along the carpal joint remains ; tail-feathers grey on their 

 outer webs ; under-surface white ; bill, legs and feet reddish-yellow, 

 turning nearly black in winter. 



