ARCTIC TERN. 513 



forehead ; it is also more slender in substance, a little more 

 curved, and has only occasionally a small portion of blacjc 

 colour at the tip, most frequently without any black, all 

 the rest coral red. The legs are remarkable in having very 

 short tarsal bones, which are characteristic of this species at 

 all ages, and the plumage of the under surface of the body 

 in the adult bird is of French grey, as dark as that of the 

 back and wings ; the same part in the Common Tern is 

 white, and in the Roseate Tern the white is tinged with a 

 rosy hue, as already described. 



The Arctic Tern, thus distinguished, was soon found to 

 be even more numerous than the Common Tern, particu- 

 larly in high northern latitudes, and it was seen in quan- 

 tities by our Arctic voyagers, as references to the details of 

 the Natural History productions of these different expe- 

 ditions will show. It was found breeding on Melville 

 Peninsula, and on the islands and beaches of the Arctic 

 Sea. It was abundant in various parts of Greenland. 

 It breeds in Iceland, and the Tern found at the Faroe 

 Islands, and named by M. Graba, Sterna brachytarsa, is 

 probably the Arctic Tern. It breeds also in Norway, Lap- 

 land, Sweden, and Holstein. Mr. Dunn says, " This Tern 

 is plentiful in the summer both in Orkney and Shetland. 

 It makes its nest on the gravelly beach and low rocks, and 

 sometimes amongst the short dry grass on the tops of low 

 cliffs, always in exposed situations. The female lays three 

 or four eggs. This bird is seldom seen but on the wing, 

 in pursuit of the small coal-fish which abound in the har- 

 bours and inlets of these countries. It darts down upon 

 them with great rapidity as they swim on the surface of 

 the water. It is the only species of Tern I have met with 

 amongst these islands." In the Outer Hebrides, according 

 to Mr. John Macgillivray, " the Common Tern is found as 

 well as the Arctic, but the latter is much the more plenti- 



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