346 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1932 



23, 1928, was picked up dead on the beach at Margate, 15 miles south- 

 west of Port Shepstone, Natal, on the east coast of South Africa, on 

 November 14, 1928. This last is the longest flight on record for any 

 banded bird as the shortest possible distance from point of banding 

 to point of recovery is 8,000 miles, while 9,000 miles is a conservative 

 estimate for the entire flight, considering the course that the bird 

 must have followed. For a bird not more than three months old, it 

 is a truly remarkable journey. One other African return record is 

 available: A tern (A. B. B. A. 1258), banded on July 3, 1913, at 

 Eastern Egg Rock, Me., was found dead at the village of Ikibiri, 

 South Nigeria, West Africa, in August, 1917. At the time of band- 

 ing this bird was identified as the common tern {Sterna hirundo), 

 but it is now believed that it was the Arctic species which does nest 

 in small numbers on the New England coast. The chicks of the two 

 species are much alike and even the adults might be confused. 



In the light of these three records it now appears that the route 

 of the Arctic tern from its breeding grounds in northeastern North 

 America is eastward across the ocean, probably by way of the Brit- 

 ish Isles, to the coast of Europe, where, joining forces with those 

 that breed in the northern part of that continent, they turn south- 

 ward and follow the coasts of Europe and Africa to their winter 

 quarters (fig. 3). 



As above stated, it is now believed that there is no authentic 

 record of a banded American common tern {Sterna hhnindo) cross- 

 ing the ocean. Nevertheless, there are many long range returns for 

 this bird. Colonies in the Great Lakes and on the coast of New 

 England have been the scene of much banding activity, and more 

 than 80,000 have been banded. Two have been reported from Puerto 

 Rico, 3 from eastern Mexico, 1 from the Republic of Haiti, 2 from 

 the Dominican Republic, 1 from Panama, 7 from the island of 

 Trinidad off the northern coast of South America, 3 from Vene- 

 zuela, and 2 from the northeastern coast of Brazil, 



A laughing gull {Lams atHcilla) (A518811) banded at Muskeget 

 Island, off the coast of Massachusetts, on July 13, 1930, was killed 

 January 26, 1931, in Acajutla Bay, Salvador. This bird had not 

 only flown more than 2,000 miles but it had crossed from the 

 Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast. 



Four Caspian terns {Sterna caspia) banded at their breeding 

 colonies in northern Lake Michigan, have been reported more than 

 2,500 miles southeast, at the mouth of the Magdalena River, Colom- 

 bia, while a fifth was recai:)tured at San Cristobal, Cuba. 



A large colony of black-crowned night herons at Barnstable, 

 Mass., was visited regularly for several seasons, and more than 2,500 

 were banded. (Cf. May, 1926.) From this work return records 



