ROSEATE TERN. 275 



THE ROSEATE TERN, STERNA DOUGALLTI, Mon- 

 tagu. Hirondelle de mer Dougal, Temm. The 

 Roseate Tern of British authors. This is perhaps 

 the most elegantly formed of all those elegant birds, 

 and is far from being uncommon, but the close resem- 

 blance of species being only more looked into lately, 

 it remained for a considerable period undistin- 

 guished ; Mr. Selby, however, seems to think that 

 it was not always so plentiful as at present on the 

 Farn Islands, and recollects the period when the 

 light-keeper intimated to him its appearance as a 

 distinct species. In distribution this tern does not 

 seem very widely spread, Mr. Yarrell has only 

 given us a few stations southward of a line be- 

 tween Cumberland and Northumberland. On the 

 Farn Islands " it breeds on the outskirts of the 

 station occupied by the arctic tern," as stated by 

 Mr. Selby; and when we last visited those islands 

 in that gentleman's company, was in considerable 

 abundance. When intruding on the nest, it showed 

 great anxiety, approaching so near that we knocked 

 one or two down with a fishing-rod used by the 

 keeper for catching white fish from the rocks. All 

 the terns are very light, the body being compa- 

 ratively small, and the expanse of wings and tail 

 so buoys them up y that when shot in the air they 

 are sustained, their wings fold above them, and 

 they whirl gently down like a shuttlecock. This 

 bird is remarkably buoyant, and we could almost 

 run below and eatch the specimen in our hat before 



