LARID.^. 



649 



THE ARCTIC TERN. 



Sterna macrura, Naumann. 



This northern representative of the preceding species appears to 

 be the only Tern that nests in the Shetlands, while southward it 

 decidedly predominates over the Common Tern in the Orkneys, 

 the Outer Hebrides, and along the west coast of Scotland to the 

 Isle of Skye. On the east side of Great Britain it breeds in 

 several localities down to the Fame Islands, south of which it is 

 only known on passage. In the west of England it nests on Walney 

 Island, where, however, the Common Tern outnumbers it ; and the 

 same must now be said of the Scilly Islands, on which, according to 

 Rodd, the Arctic Tern was formerly in the ascendant. In Ireland 

 it breeds on i.slands off the coast, from Wexford to Antrim, and 

 more plentifully in cos. Donegal, Mayo, Gal way, Kerry and Cork. 

 On migration it is found on all our shores, but rarely inland. 



Beyond the British Islands the Arctic Tern occurs in abundance 

 — during the short summer of the northern regions — as far as human 

 foot has trod ; for Col. Feilden, when with H.M.S. ' Alert,' obtained 

 it above lat. 82° K, and Parry's Expedition observed it beyond 

 Spitsbergen, while it has been recorded from Franz Josef Land. In 

 Asia, as well as in America, it is completely circumpolar in its range. 



