560 LARID.E. 



and FiDlancl ; nor does it occur far north in Russia, It is 

 common on the southern shores and islands of the Baltic ; 

 and it ascends the larger rivers for so great a distance — 

 breeding on the islands and sandbanks — that its range may 

 be said to extend across Europe. Colonies are to be found 

 along the entire coast from North German)^ to Spain ; and 

 also throughout the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the 

 Caspian. It goes down to the West Coast of Africa to 

 Cape Colony ; and in the north-east, it is found breeding in 

 Lower Egypt, and, perhaps, in the Red Sea. Eastward it can 

 be traced along the Asian plateau to Northern and Central 

 India ; but beyond this point its range and identification are 

 complicated by closely allied forms. One of these, w^hich is 

 characterized by a grey rump and tail and straight slender 

 bill, is found from the Red Sea to Ceylon ; and another, 

 S. sinensis, recognizable by its slightly larger size and ivhite 

 primary shafts, extends from Ceylon, Burmah, and the 

 Eastern Archipelago, to China on the one hand, and North 

 Australia on the other. In North America our Lesser Tern 

 is represented by a very closely allied form, S. antiUannn, in 

 which the rump and tail are grey like the mantle, and there 

 is, as a rule, but little black at the tip of the bill ; the 

 primary shafts are, however, black, as in our bird. On the 

 eastern side of South America, ascending the great rivers 

 for thousands of miles, S. supcrciliaris, with stout and 

 entirely yellow bill, is the representative species ; and in the 

 Australian and New Zealand Seas is found S. nereis, a light- 

 mantled species destitute of the black loral streak. The 

 Pacific coast of South America is frequented by S. e.rilis, a 

 slender grey species with white frontlet ; and at the Cape 

 of Good Hope there is a very small species, S. halcenarum, 

 in which the black of the forehead extends to the base of 

 the bill. 



In the adult bird in summer the beak is orange, tipped 

 with black ; irides dusky ; forehead white, crown of the head 

 and the nape jet black ; back and wings uniform delicate 

 pearl-grey, except the first and second primaries, which 

 are slate-grey with black shafts and white margins to the 



