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extremity. They are said to defend the nests, and sta- 

 tioning themselves near the outer surface, they are the 

 first to make their appearance when their habitation is 

 disturbed : they will attack the party molesting them, and 

 bite with considerable strength. 



The negroes and Hottentots consider these insects a 

 great delicacy. They are destroyed with quick-lime, or 

 more readily with arsenic, which is thrown into their 

 habitations. 



The Psocidce are very small insects, having soft and 

 swollen bodies: the head is very large, nearly trigonal, and 

 provided with three ocelli on the upper surface. The 

 wings when folded meet at an angle above the abdo- 

 men, and are sparingly provided with nervures. The an- 

 tenna: are setaceous, and composed of about ten joints. 

 The tarsi are short, and usually two-jointed. They are 

 very active in their motions, and live in the bark of old 

 trees and in dwelling-houses. Nearly forty species are 

 said to be found in this country. 



TE'RMOLI. [SANXIO.] 



TERMONDE. [DEN-DKRMONDE.] 



TERN, STERNA, the name of those web-footed 

 long-winged birds which are vulgarly known as Sea-Swal- 

 lows. 



Linnaeus, in his last edition of the Syslema Natures, 

 places the genus Sterna between Laru-s and Rhynchops. 



Cuvier arranges the Hirondellt's de Mer between the 

 Goefitf"/'- Li/-//* :>tul Rhynchops. He observes that these 

 n'ir"ii'l'!tr<s de Mer derive their names from their c 

 sively long and pointed wings, their forked tail, and their 

 short legs, which give them a port and flight analogous 

 to those of the Swallows. Their bill, he adds, is pointed, 

 compressed, straight, without curvature or projection ; 

 the.ir nostrils, situated towards the base, are oblong and 

 pierced through ; the membranes which unite their toes 

 are very much notched, they therefore swim but little. 

 They fly in all directions, and with rapidity over the sea, 

 uttering loud cries and cleverly picking up from its sur- 

 face the mollusks and small fishes which form their food. 

 They also advance inland to lakes and rivers. 



Head and foot of Tern: 



The same author states that the Noddies may be distin- 

 guished from the other Sea-Swallows. Their tail is not 

 forked. 



The views of Mr. Vigors, Mr. Swainson, and others, as 

 to the position of the Terns, will be found in the article 

 L.VRID.E. 



Mr. Swainson makes the genus Sterna consist of the fol- 

 lowing subgenera : Strrn<i, Linn. ; Thalassites, Sw. ; 

 Phat<i, Linn. : BAynchopt, Linn. ; Gacia, Briss. 



The Prince of Canino places Sterniner, the second sub- 

 family of his Dirirlfp, between the subfamilies Rhynrh'rp- 

 tina; and Lnrina;. The Sternina; consist of the following 

 genera : 



mi. Linn. ; Hydrochelidon, Boie ; Megalopterus, 

 Boie (N.B. Sterna Slotida of authors) ; TAalaueut, Boie ; 

 ''in, Brehm ; and Stylnchelidon, Brehm. (Birds 

 nf Kur'ijif and North America.) 



Mr. G. R. Gray 'Genera, of Birds) arranges the Ster- 

 ninrr- as the third and last subfamily of Laridee, imme- 

 diately after Rhynchopinte, with the following genera: 



Phatuta, Wag].; Gelochelidan, Brehm; TnoAuMUt, 

 Boie; Mi/lni-li'tiil'iii, Brehm; Gygis. Wairl.; Sti-nm, 

 Linn. //, Boie; Hydroehetidon, Boie; Anoiis, 



Leari /',/nla, of authors) ; O/iychoprion, Wagl. ; 



and / , \Vagl. 



The l'i-l"!-<i,inlff immediately follow. 



Geographical Distribution and Habits. The habits of 

 P. C.. No. 1517. 



the Terns, which are widely diffused over the maritime 

 parts of the globe, are noticed in the article LARID.E. The 

 following have occurred, some occasionally only in Eu- 

 rope : 



The Caspian Tern, Sterna Caspia (genus Stylochelidon, 

 Brehm); The Sandwich Tern, Sterna Cantiaca (genus 

 Thalassem; 'Boie) ; the Gull-billed Tern, Sterna Anglica 

 (genus Gelocketidon, Brehm) ; the common Tern, Sterna 

 Hit-undo (genus Sterna of authors) ; the Roseate Tern 

 Sterna Dougallii (germs Sterna) the Arctic Tern, Sterna 

 Arctica (genus Sterna) ; the Little Tern, Sterna minuta 

 (genus Stemula, Boie) ; the Noddy, Sterna stolida (genus 

 Anous, Leach; Megalopterus, Boie); the Black Tern, 

 Sterna nigra (genus Hydrochelidon, Boie; Viralva. 

 Leach) ; the White-winged Tern, Sterna leucoptera (genus 

 Hydrochelidon ? Boie) ; and the Moustache Tern, Sterna, 

 leitcopare'ia (genus Hydrochelidon ? Boie ; Viralva, f 

 Leach). Of these, the largest is the Caspian Tern. 



Our limits will not allow us to give more than two ex- 

 amples, and we select the Common Tern and the Noddy. 

 We should premise that all the Terns of the British Islands 

 are strictly migratory : many species visit us regularly for 

 the purpose of breeding ; but those, the Noddy for instance, 

 whose home is far away, are seen casually and rarely. 



The Common Tern. Description. Forehead, top of 

 the head, and long feathers of the occiput, deep black ; 

 posterior part of the neck, back, and wings, bluish ash ; 

 lower parts pure white, with the exception of the breast 

 only, which is slightly clouded with ash-colour ; quills 

 whitish ash, terminated by ashy-brown; tail white, but 

 the two lateral feathers blackish-brown on their external 

 barbs ; bill crimson-red, often blackish towards the point ; 

 iris reddish-brown ; feet red. Length 13 to 14 inches. 

 Such is M. Temminck's description of the adult male and 

 female. 



The same author describes the young of the year before 

 the autumnal moult as having the front, and a part of the 

 top of the head, of a dirty white, marked towards the 

 occiput with blackish patches ; the long occipital feathers 

 brownish-black ; upper parts of tarnished bluish-ash : all 

 these feathers bordered and terminated with whitish and 

 irregularly spotted with brown or bright reddish; the 

 lower parts of a dirty tarnished white ; tail-feathers ash- 

 coloured, terminated with whitish ; base of the bill faded 

 orange ; iris blackish-brown ; feet orange. 



This is the Pierre Garin of the French ; Fionco and 

 Rondine <H Mare of the Italians; Meerschwalbe and Roth- 

 /'imiyr Meerschwalbe of the Germans; Zee-zwaluw of 

 the Netherlanders ; Kria of the Icelanders ; Tende, Ten- 

 il"lnl,i', Sand-Tolle, and Sand-Tcerr/ie of the Norwegians; 

 Tec me of the Danes ; Sea-Sicallow of the modern British ; 

 and Y for-icennol ftcyaf and Yscraean of the antient 

 British. 



Geographical Di*trilnttii>n, Habits, $c.' The Common 

 Tern,' says Mr. Gould, in his great work on the Birds of 

 Kurnpe, ' although not universally dispersed over our 

 coasls, is nevertheless a very abundant species, being 

 found in great numbers over the southern shores, but more 

 sparingly over the northern, which are almost exclusively 

 inhabited by its near ally, the Arctic Tern. It is now 

 satisfactorily ascertained that the common Tern does not 

 extend its range to the American continent, and that its 

 place is there supplied by another species, to which the 

 Prince of Musignano,' now Prince of Canino, ' has given 

 the specific appellation of IVilsoni, in honour of the 

 celebrated ornithologist by whom it was first described.' 

 The Prince however gives both Sterna ffi'lgoiiiand St<>ma 

 Hinindo as American species, in his Birds of Europe and 

 North America ; and M. Temminck states that individuals 

 killed in North America differ in nothing from those of 

 Europe. In the fourth part of his Manuel (18-10), though 

 he adds to the synonyms and references, quoting among 

 the rest Mr. Gould's work, he leaves his own observation 

 above noticed uncontradicted. 'How far,' says Mr. Gould 

 in continuation, 'the Common Tern is distributed over 

 the Old Continent we have not satisfactorily ascertained, 

 but we believe its range is extended from the Arctic Cir- 

 cle to the Mediterranean, and even to the coasts of Africa 

 and India, to which southern and eastern countries it is 

 supposed to retire during our winters. .The Common Tern 

 does not confine itself entirely to the sea, but frequently 

 resorts to inland streams, &c. : and when thus ascending 

 our creeks and rivers these little fairies of the ocean fear- 



VOL. XXIV. -2 H 



