60 OCEAN BIRDS. 



grey ; tail-coverts white ; outer webs of tail-feathers pale ash-grey, inner webs white ; chin, 

 neck, breast, and under surface dull white ; legs, toes, and membranes coral-red. The 

 whole length of the bird fourteen inches and a quarter; from the wrist to the end of the 

 longest quill-feather ten inches and a half. A young bird killed in August has the point 

 of the beak dark brown, the base reddish-yellow ; forehead dull white ; posterior part of 

 the crown, the ear-coverts, and the occiput black ; chin and neck all round white ; back 

 and wing-coverts ash-grey, each feather margined with ash- brown and white ; outer web of 

 the hrst quill-feather black ; the others ash-grey ; under-surface of the body white ; legs, 

 toes, and membranes reddish-brown." 



Though this bird has been separated from the Arctic Tern since the days of Linnjeus, 

 there is no doubt but that the Arctic is really the commonest Tern in our islands. Mr. 

 Howard Saunders and others therefore call it Sterna fluviatilis, and drop the Sterna hirundo, 

 as that name had become common to both Terns. Dresser says: — "The Common Tern is 

 generally distributed throughout Europe, though hardly so abundant as the Arctic in the 

 northern portion of the Continent. Like many of the Sternce, it is common to both the 

 Old and New Worlds, and even extends into Southern Africa." 



The Arctic Tern {Sierna arctica). — One thing is certain, that the English name of 

 this bird should have been the Common Tern, if there is to be any meaning in the word 

 "common." Mr. H. Saunders takes the name Sterna macrura for this bird, and concludes 

 his article as follows : — " The Arctic Tern ranges along the coasts of Northern Europe, 

 Asia, and America ; in winter it visits the African coast, descending as far as Walwich 

 Bay ; and I have an example obtained by Wucherer off Bahia, the only instance known 

 of its occurrence so far south on the American side." 



It is thus described by Yarrell ('British Birds,' vol, iii. p. 403): — "The adult bird 

 in summer has the bill coral-red, the extreme point sometimes black ; forehead, crown, 

 and nape black ; back, wings, and wing-coverts pearl-grey ; outer web of the first primary 

 lead-grey; tail-coverts and tail-feathers almost white, the two longest tail-feathers on 

 each side grey on the outer webs ; cheeks white ; chin and upper part of neck in frout, 

 and on the sides ash-grey; breast and all the under surface of the body as dark a grey 

 colour as that of the back; legs, toes, and their membranes orange-red. The whole 

 length of the bird from the point of the bill to the end of the middle, or short, tail- 

 feather twelve inches and a half, to the end of the longest tail-feather two inches and 

 a half more, or fifteen inches whole length ; from the wrist to the end of the longest quill- 

 feather, eleven inches ; length of the tarsus only half an inch." 



