518 LARIDJJ. 



obtained, selected that of the Whiskered Tern here figured 

 from, and made the arrangement by which I became pos- 

 sessed of it. Five examples have occurred in Britain in 

 the last six or seven years. 



This species had not previously been killed nearer than 

 the coast of Picardy, where M. Temminck states that M. 

 Jules de la Motte, of Abbeville, once saw several examples 

 in a marsh ; he killed three ; and M. Vieillot includes 

 this Tern in consequence among the Birds of France. 



But little is known of the habits of this Tern. It was 

 first discovered in the southern part of Hungary, by M. 

 Natterer, of Vienna. M. Brehm includes it in his Birds 

 of Germany. M. Temminck mentions that he has met 

 with this species in the marshes of Capo d'Istria, and on 

 the coast of Dalmatia ; it has been found also in Syria and 

 in Egypt. M. Temminck further states that specimens 

 received from Borneo do not differ in any respect from 

 those obtained in Europe. M. Savi includes this Tern 

 in his Ornithology of Italy, but considers it a very rare 

 species, of which only three examples had been obtained. 



It is said to feed on winged insects and aquatic worms ; 

 but its mode of nesting and its eggs are, I believe, as 

 yet but little known. During his visit to London, Dr. 

 L. Thienemann gave me an egg of this rare Tern : it is 

 one inch and a half long by one inch and one-eighth in 

 breadth ; the ground colour asparagus green, spotted with 

 brownish-black, and a few spots of bluish-grey. 



In the specimen killed on the Dorsetshire coast, and 

 now before me, the bill is red, inclining to dark brown on 

 the edges of both mandibles towards the point ; the bill 

 rather stout, with the inferior angle of the under mandible 

 prominent, an approximation to the form of the under 

 mandible in the Gull-billed Tern, next to be described. 

 The irides brownish-black ; forehead, crown, and nape 



