188 THE NATURALIST IN NORWAY. 



here. Nilsson says little about it, and Lloyd does not 

 include it among the Scandinavia fauna. I have been 

 informed by a Norwegian friend, on the authority of 

 a German naturalist residing in East Finmark, that 

 the roseate tern occasionally breeds there. The eggs 

 are stone colour, marked with black, brown, and gray 

 spots. 



The Arctic tern (S. arctica) is also common in Nor- 

 wegian Lapland, where it breeds. This species, and 

 not the common tern, is the 8. hirundo of Linnaeus. 

 It was Temminck who pointed out the difference. It 

 much resembles the common tern, except that the 

 bill is bright red, and short ; the mantle and wings 

 are of a darker shade than in the other species, while 

 the legs are much shorter. It is called in Sweden the 

 rodndbbad tarna, or red-billed tern. It feeds on 

 fishes, insects, and small crabs. It makes its nest in 

 a hole in the sand, and lays two or three eggs, similar 

 in colour to those of the common tern, but smaller in 

 size. 



The lesser tern (8. minuta). I have only seen a 

 single specimen of this interesting little species in 

 Norway. It is pretty common in the south of Sweden, 

 as well as in Denmark. It lays two or three very 

 pale stone-coloured eggs, marked with small black and 

 gray spots. 



The black tern (S. nigra). This bird is pretty 

 common in marshy places, in the central and southern 

 parts of this country; it does not visit the extreme 

 north, nor is it so early a visitor here as some of the 

 other species. Its Norwegian name is sort ternen, or 

 black tern. Feeds on insects and larvas, and makes 

 its nest in marshy places, or by the sides of inland 



