lO ALLEN S NATURALISTS LIliRARY. 



Young. — Similar to the winter plumage of the adult, but 

 browner, by reason of the brown tips to all the feathers of the 

 upper surface ; a black patch on the hinder crown and nape as 

 well as a black spot on the ear- coverts, the latter much 

 more distinct. 



Characters. — In summer plumage the present species is easily 

 distinguished from its British allies by its white upper tail- 

 coverts and tail, its black under surface and under wing-covcrts, 

 and by the white wing-coverts along the carpal bend of the 

 wing. In winter plumage the adult bird is still known by its 

 white tail, but young birds have grey tails like the winter plum- 

 age of the other species of Hydrochelidon. In a properly 

 prepared skin, however, there is always some white on the 

 rump, i?itervening between the grey of the back and the grey of 

 the tail, in H. leucoptera. 



Range in Great Britain. — The White-winged Black Tern has 

 occurred many times on our southern and eastern coasts in 

 summer, and Mr. Howard Saunders states that he knows of 

 only two occurrences of the bird in autumn, one having been 

 killed near Ilfracombe in North Devonshire in November, 

 while another was shot in Dublin Bay in October, 1841. Two 

 others have been shot in Ireland in spring. 



Range outside the British Islands. — The present species nests in 

 the marshes of Central and Southern Europe and throughout 

 temperate Asia to China, wintering all over Africa, certain parts 

 of India and Ceylon, and throughout the Malayan Archipelago 

 to Australia and New Zealand. It occasionally wanders to 

 America, where it has been recorded from Wisconsin and from 

 Barbados. 



Habits. — These appear to be very similar to those of the 

 Black Tern, in company with which it nests in Central Europe, 

 but in Southern Russia Mr. Howard Saunders says that large 

 and distinct colonies are formed. The flight is said by the 

 same observer to be more rapid and its note to be harsher than 

 that of H\ ?iigra, but its food is similar to that of the last- 

 named species. 



Nest. — Similar to that of the Black Tern. 



