Vol. \ \.\ 

 L913 



Recent Literature. 12.5 



rla lidon nilotica \bG. a. aranea (Wilson), Sterna caspia becomes Hydroprogne 

 tachegrava imperalor (Coues), and S. ancethetus becomes Melanosterna 

 ancethelus recognita Mathews. Phcebaslria, Thalasseus, Hydroprogne, 

 Onychoprion, Sternula and Melanosterna arc regarded as genera, while in 

 Hydrochelidon leucoptera, Sterna dougalli, S. fuscatus and Annus stolidus 

 the specific name must be repeated <>n account of the recognition of extra- 

 limitaJ races. 



In the substitution of Hydroprogne for Thalasseus and Thalasseus for 

 Actochelidon, Mr. Mathews has the writer's hearty support. — W. S. 



Bickerton's ' Home-Lifo of the Terns.' ' — This attractive volume 

 constitutes the fourth of the ' Bird Lover's Home-Life Series.' In it Mr. 

 Bickerton tells us of his visits to Beveral Tern colonics on the English coast 

 and his experiences in studying and photographing thefive British breeding 



species —the Arctic, Common, Sandwich, Lesser and H,osea.te Terns. One 



chapter is devoted to Terns' habits in general, and one each to the species 



here especially considered while some additional notes on the Common 

 Tern are given in chapter VII. The accounts arc written in an attractive 

 style and contain much information of value to the ornithologist as well as 



to the bird-lover. 



We learn from Mr. Bickerton's pages that the Arctic Tern is by far the 

 most abundant breeding species in ( treat Britain today, one colony number- 

 ing at least ten thousand pairs; the Common Tern comes next, the Lesser 

 Tern is not so numerous, the Sandwich decidedly rare and the Roseate 



extremely so. 



The protection afforded these birds during the breeding season is yielding 

 encouraging results. In the case of the Sandwich Tern in the Ravenglass 

 'Gullery', which is carefully guarded by Lord Muncaster, the number of 



eggs recorded by the warden has increased from 120 in 1900 to 403 in 1912. 

 As a protection against the unscrupulous raids of collectors the freshly laid 

 eggs are each day marked by the warden with an indelible purple pencil so 



as to make them valueless as specimens. An idea of the rarity of the Rose- 

 ate Tern may be gained from the fact that, the only breeding colonies that 

 could be found were located on rocky islets, inhabited by Arctic and Com- 

 mon Terns, and numbered all told not over b r > or 'JO pairs while the other 

 two species numbered respectively 10,000 and 1000 pairs. Mr. Bickerton 

 found the Roseate Terns laying but a single egg in every nest examined, 

 due possibly to this being on the northern limit of their breeding range. 

 American readers of this interesting volume will find in it a reminder of 



what might have been, on the \'e\v Jersey coast and elsewhere on our shores, 



i The Home-Life | of thi Ten ot 3ea swallow- Photographed ;m<l tle- 

 Bcrlbed Bj u Bickerton, F. Z. 8., M. B. O. U, ' Vice President of The Hertford- 

 shire Natural History Society and Field Club, | with thirty-two mounted plates | 

 London | W 11 berby & < !o., 326 High Holborn W. C | MCMXII. pp. i 88, plates 



