8 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS 



Family LARID&. Subfamily S TERNINSE. 



BLACK TERN. 



Hydrochelidon nigra, L,INN. 



THIS beautiful Marsh Tern was at one time a regular British breeding bird. 

 It nested as late as the second decade of the century, in immense colonies 

 in the broads of Norfolk, in the Kent and Lincolnshire marshes, and in various other 

 parts of the South of England. The last year in which the Black Tern is known 

 to have nested in England was 1858 ; and previous to that, after a long lapse, in 

 1853, owing to extensive areas of country remaining in a semi-bogged condition, 

 after the great floods which had deluged large tracts in Norfolk in the previous 

 winter. 



The draining of the fen districts and the spread of cultivation have deprived 

 these fresh-water nesting species of their former nurseries. Now they have, in 

 consequence, deserted our shores during the interesting season of incubation, and 

 visit us only during the spring and autumn, when going to and returning (on their 

 way to warmer latitudes) from the lands where, undisturbed, they have brought forth 

 their broods. Such quiet spots are found in Sweden, Russia, Germany, and other 

 parts of Europe, as also in the southern parts of Canada and Alaska. 



The breeding range of this Tern in the eastern hemisphere may be roughly 

 demarked by the 25th and the 55th parallels of north latitude, as far east as the 

 9Oth meridian. In winter the birds from this region migrate southward down 

 both coasts of Africa. In the western hemisphere the range ma}' be stated as 

 between the 35th and 55th parallels across the continent from sea to sea; extending 

 on migration as far, on its eastern side, as the West Indian Islands and the north- 

 eastern shores of South America, and along the Pacific coast as far as Chili. 



During the migratory season, it is found more frequently on the south-west 

 than on the south-east coasts of England ; although in April and May it is not 

 uncommonly to be seen off the coasts of Sussex and Kent, while specimens are 

 recorded from many other parts of the coast. 



The Black Tern is a rare generally autumn visitor to Scotland, and a still 

 rarer to Ireland. 



In their various plumages both sexes are alike at the same age. In the 

 breeding or summer plumage, from which the females differ only in their slightly 

 paler hue, the male has the head, neck, breast, and underside black ; the mantle, 



