Distribution of Sterna dougalli. 247 



effect that the only grey Tern observed by Mr. Aplin was 

 Gelochelidun anglica. For these marks of scepticism I alone 

 am responsible. There was no time to write to Mr. Whitaker 

 and receive his reply before going to press. A slip of the 

 pen seemed not improbable, for the Gull-billed Tern is 

 sometimes nearly white, and, when fresh, shows a rosy tint 

 on the underparts ; while it seemed very unlikely that the 

 Roseate Tern should breed in Tunisia. The species was 

 hardly known in any part of the Mediterranean : Mr. C. 

 A. Wright had not obtained it in Malta ; Prof. Giglioli could 

 only enumerate three or four examples obtained since 1822 

 along the coast of Liguria ; and the only Mediterranean 

 specimen I had ever seen was one from the vicinity of 

 Menorca, in Canon Tristram's collection. Add to these facts, 

 that at least fifty birds, erroneously identified by accredited 

 ornithologists as Roseate Terns, had come under my notice, 

 and some excuse may be found for my incredulity. 



To convince the unbeliever, Mr. Whitaker promptly sent 

 over two beautiful specimens of Sterna dougalli in full 

 breeding-plumage; one of these, as he had intimated, unusu- 

 ally white. Of course I wrote at once to apologize for 

 doubting his identification ; and he is to be congratulated 

 on having made known a breeding-place which is not only 

 new, but which also forms an important link in the chain 

 leading to the haunts of this species in the tropics and the 

 southern hemisphere. 



It is a matter of common knowledge that the Roseate 

 Tern was described by Montagu from a specimen obtained 

 by Dr. MacDougall on the Cumbraes in the Firth of Clyde, 

 and that the species annually visits certain portions of the 

 coasts of the United Kingdom for the purposes of repro- 

 duction. It is an oceanic Tern, nowhere numerically 

 abundant, and remains with us for a very short time, 

 being the last of the Terns to arrive and the very first 

 to leave, and the young are, consequently, very rare in 

 collections. It is, moreover, unusually intolerant of inter- 

 ference, and if the Common Tern {S. fiuviatilis) becomes 

 too numerous in its favourite haunts, it yields, almost 



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