LARID^E. 



633 



'IHE ARCTIC TERN. 

 Sterna macrura, Naumann. 



This northern representative of the preceding species is the only 

 Tern that nests in the Shetlands, while southward, if not absolutely 

 the sole member of the genus, it is at least predominant in the 

 Orkneys, the Outer Hebrides, and along the west coast of Scotland, 

 down to the Isle of Skye. On the east of Great Britain, though 

 not paramount, it breeds in considerable numbers down to the Fame 

 Islands, and, sparingly, to the mouth of the Humber, south of which 

 it is only known on passage. In the west of England it nests — or 

 used to nest — on Walney, where, however, the Common Tern 

 appears to outnumber it in some years ; and the same must now be 

 said of the Scilly Islands, on which, according to Rodd, the Arctic 

 Tern was formerly in the ascendant. In Ireland it frequents the 

 north and west, from Antrim to (iahvay and Kerry, but details are 

 wanting. On migration, of course, it is found on all our shores, but 

 identified specimens have rarely been obtained inland. 



Beyond the British Islands the Arctic Tern occurs in abundance 

 — during the short summer of the northern regions — as far as human 

 foot has trod ; for Col. Feilden, when with H.M.S. ' Alert,' found it 

 nesting above lat. Si° N., and Parry's expedition observed it beyond 



