LITTLE TERN 179 



and measure trom a little less to rather more than 2 inches in length, 

 vary to a remarkable extent both in form and colouring. The ground- 

 colour, for instance, ranges from white through cream and pale buff 

 to brownish buff; while the bold markings of dark or even blackish 

 brown present every conceivable variation in the wa)- of spots and 

 blotches, the underlying markings being deep purple. 



Of the sooty tern {Sterna fuliginosa), a dark-coloured species 

 ranging from the West Indies across Central America to Polynesia 

 and Australia, a very brief notice will suffice, as, at most, only five 

 authenticated instances of its occurrence in the British Islands were 

 recorded up to the close of the nineteenth century. Of these five 

 instances the first occurred near Burton-on-Trent in 1852, the second 

 near Scarborough in 1863, the third in Berkshire in 1869, the fourth 

 near Bath in 1885, and the fifth (when a dead bird was picked up) 

 in Norfolk in 1900.^ Of the lesser sooty tern {Stenia miastlieta)^ 

 which has a somewhat wider range in the tropics than the last, a single 

 example is believed to have been taken on one of the lightships at the 

 mouth of the Thames in 1875. 



. . _ Reversing the old proverb of " last but not least," we 



,„^ • ^ V have reserved for the end of the group the smallest 



(Sterna minuta). . -n • • 1 . 



indigenous British representative, commonly known 



as the little or lesser tern. This bird, which has no distinct summer 

 and winter plumage, is sufficiently characterised by its diminutive propor- 

 tions, its total length not exceeding 19^ inches. In general colouring it 

 resembles the common tern in summer-dress, but differs, among other 

 features, by the white forehead, lemon-yellow beak tipped with black, and 

 pale orange legs. In young birds the top of the head and nape of the 

 neck are streaked with blackish brown mingled with buff, and the back 

 and wings mottled with umber and buff; while the nestling is pale buff 

 more or less distinctly striped with black above, and still paler beneath, 

 except on the throat, which is full buff. The little tern is an Old 

 World species, ranging, in suitable localities, over the greater part of 

 Europe south of latitude 60' and thence eastwards through western 

 and central Asia to India, and in winter visiting Africa (where it some- 

 times breeds) and even occasionally straggling to Burma and Java. 

 In southern India and the countries to the east its place is taken by 

 the nearly allied white-shafted ternlet {St. sinensis) and the black- 

 shafted ternlct {St. saundej'si). To the British Isles the little tern is 

 a common summer-visitor, arriving early in May and departing in 



• See W. E. Clarke, 'I'rans. iVorfolk Nat. Hist. Soc. vol. viii. p. 752 (1903). 



