360 BIRDS OF DAMAEA LAND. 



sions within easy gunshot of the shore. At the accus- 

 tomed hour I would station myself in some convenient 

 spot, carefully concealing my gun, but I could not 

 deceive these birds ; when within some hundred yards 

 of me they would suddenly diverge, making a circuit 

 of from a quarter to half a mile ; after which they would 

 return to their accustomed line of flight along the shore. 

 The iris is reddish brown; the bill vermilion-red, 

 clouded with horn-colour towards the points of the 

 mandibles ; the legs and toes are reddish black. 



415. Sterna Bergii, Licht. Swift Tern. 



Sterna velox, Riippell's Atlas, pi. 13. 



Sterna Bergii, Layard's Cat. No. 687. 



Sterna velox, Chapman's Travels in S. Afr., App. p. 424. 



Sterna Bergii, Finsch & Hartlaub's Vogel Ost-Aftika's, p. 828. 



Next to Sterna caspia this is the finest Tern on the 

 south-west coast of Africa, where it is not uncommon. 

 I have shot large numbers of it at Walwich Bay, where 

 I have found it frequenting the innermost parts of the 

 bay, as well as some other inlets and bays to the 

 southward. 



It lives entirely on fish. 



The iris is dark brown ; the bill a rich warm yellow ; 

 the legs and toes black, but with yellow spots along and 

 under the toes. In immature birds the feet and legs 

 are yellowish, with irregular black markings; and the 

 yellow of the bill is tinged with greenish. 



