BLACK TERN. 5 



bird than H. hybrida with a more slender bill, and the webs of 

 the feet are not so much incised. 



Range in Great Britain. — The Black Tern is no longer known 

 as a breeding species in England, but in former times it used to 

 nest in the marshes of the east coast. But for the draining of 

 the fen-lands the species might yet be found nesting, and I 

 have myself seen birds in full breeding plumage, passing north 

 along the shores of the Kentish coast in May. According lo 

 Mr, Howard Saunders, the last recorded eggs were taken in 

 Norfolk in 1858, though early in the century the nests of the 

 " Blue Darr," as the bird was called, might have been found in 

 hundreds on the alder swamps. In the autumn the birds 

 return southwards, and during the gales which then frequently 

 prevail, they are driven inland along the rivers, so that I have 

 more than once been fishing on the Thames at Cookham, in 

 September, with several of these pretty birds flying round me, 

 during the prevalence of a strong easterly gale. The species 

 occurs much more rarely on the west coast of England than 

 upon the east, and is found only as a straggler in the northern 

 parts of the British Island, and as a rare autumn visitor to 

 Ireland. 



Range outside the British Islands. — The Black Tern breeds in 

 suitable localities throughout Europe, south of 6o°N. lat, and as 

 far eastw^ards as Western Turkestan. It winters in Africa, reaching 

 to Loango on the west coast and the shores of Abyssinia on the 

 east. 



Habits.— When seen in spring, proceeding northward, the 

 Black Tern follows the usual habits of the family, flying at a little 

 distance from the shore, just out of gun shot, and dipping at 

 intervals into the sea to capture some small prey and then 

 beating its way onward. Under such circumstances I have 

 seen it both in spring and autumn on the coasts of England, 

 but in its usual haunts on the Continent it is an inland species, 

 and I saw it in the Hanzag marshes in Hungary in May, 

 where it was nesting. When disturbed the birds fly up, uttering 

 a harsh note like the syllable " crick " ; but they have another 

 note more drawn out, which Mr. Seebohm very well expresses by 

 Ke-e-e. The food of the Black Tern consists of small fishes, 

 but it also feed on leeches, worms, and even on insects, for it 



