I70 



GULL GROUP 



lateral feathers slii^htly rounded, although more pointed than in the 

 marsh-terns ; while the beak is unusually stout and blunt, and the 

 shank, or lower secernent, of the leg relatively longer than in ordinar\- 

 terns, exceeding in fact in this respect the middle toe and its claw. 

 Still, looking at matters in a broad manner, and not weighing details in 

 too fine a balance, it seems inadvisable to attach any special importance 

 to such insignificant differences, and the species is accordingly included 

 in the typical genus, of which the distinctive peculiarities are recorded 

 under the heading of the common tern. The summer-range of the pres- 

 ent species includes 

 most of Europe 

 south of about lati- 

 tude 5 5^thc north of 

 Africa, the Atlantic 

 coast of temperate 

 North America, tem- 

 perate and tropical 

 Asia inclusive of the 

 Malay Archipelago, 

 and Australia : to 

 India and Ceylon, 

 where it is common 

 at that season on the 

 borders of large tanks 

 and marshes, it is, however, chiefly a winter-visitor, and in Burma it is 

 mainly restricted to estuaries and the coast. Its nearest breeding-places 

 to the British Islands are in the south of Denmark, and the stragglers 

 to Great Britain now consequently more often make their appearance 

 in the eastern and south-eastern counties of England — Norfolk, as usual 

 in similar cases, having the pre-eminence in this respect. Leeds appears 

 to be the most northern locality for the species in Great Britain, at 

 least up to the close of the nineteenth century ; and there was no 

 record up to that date of its occurrence in Ireland. Nothing speciall}' 

 noteworthy occurs in the habits of this tern, which feeds both upon 

 insects and on fish and other water-dwelling creatures. The eggs are 

 three in number, and of the usual tcrn-typc, measuring about 2 inches 

 in their longer diameter. 



In addition to the characters noticed above, the gull-billed tern is 

 characterised in the summer-dress by the black crown of the head and 

 nape of the neck, the pearl-grey back, and the white under surface ; 

 the beak and legs being black at all seasons. In winter, streaks of 



THC ROWLAND WARD STUOIOS 



GULL-BILLED TEKN (MALt: IN SUMMKR). 



