530 



upon tufts of grass and rushes, sometimes in very wet 

 situations, and barely raised above the level of the water. 

 The nest is composed of flags and coarse grass ; the eggs 

 usually three, but sometimes four ; those in my own col- 

 lection are of a dark olive brown, blotched, and spotted 

 with black, principally at the larger end ; the length of the 

 egg one inch five lines, by one inch in breadth. The food 

 of this Tern consists chiefly of beetles and dragon-flies, with 

 some small fish. The insect portion of its prey is taken 

 on the wing with great ease and certainty, as the flight of 

 the bird is rapid, and it turns, stops, or alters its course in 

 an instant. Its note is shrill. The Black Tern makes its 

 appearance here by the end of April, or the beginning of 

 May, and leaves us early in October. Montagu mentions 

 an instance of having seen a young bird in Devonshire 

 as late as the beginning of November in 1802. 



M. Nilsson says this species is rather common in Sweden, 

 and it is included in the various histories of the Birds of 

 Germany. M. Temminck says it is very abundant in 

 Holland, and in the extensive marshes of Hungary. It is 

 observed in some of the marshes of France ; visits some of 

 the lakes of Switzerland, and is seen at Genoa on its 

 northern route in spring. M. Savi includes it in his Birds 

 of Italy. It is seen at Corfu, in Crete, and in Sicily, in 

 considerable numbers in May, but only a few remain to 

 breed. Mr. Drummond says it is common about Biserta. 

 The Zoological Society received a specimen, a young bird, 

 sent by Mr. Ross from Trebizond ; and the Russian natu- 

 ralists found it also in the vicinity of the Caucasus. 



Dr. Heineken includes the Black Tern in his Catalogue 

 of the Birds of Madeira. 



Pennant says Kalm saw flocks of hundreds of these 

 birds in the Atlantic Ocean, midway between England and 

 America. The Black Tern is well known to the orni- 



