ROSEATE TERN. 25 



and tail-feathers ; a distinct white collar round the hind-neck ; 

 the crown of the head and nape blackish streaked with white, 

 the forehead whiter and streaked with bLick ; lores and sides 

 of hinder crown blackish ; marginal lesser wing-coverts black, 

 forming a bar ; " bill black ; feet grey ; iris black " (Dr. 

 Coppinger}. 



Young in First Winter Plumage. Grey above like the adult in 

 winter plumage, but distinguished by the dark band along the 

 marginal upper wing coverts ; the head and nape black, the 

 forehead white. 



Characters. The Roseate Tern may be recognised from the 

 two preceding species by its long and slender bill, which is 

 orange at the base and black at the end, but more especially 

 by the inner webs of the primaries being white to the tips. 



Range in Great Britain. The present species formerly bred in 

 small colonies in various places off the coasts of the British 

 Isles. The best-known breeding- ground of the Roseate Tern 

 was the Fame Islands, but on the west coast Foulney and 

 Walney Islands were both resorts for the species, as well as 

 some of the Scilly Islands. The late Mr. Henry Seebohm, 

 however, believed that the species was practically extinct in 

 the British Islands, but under the protective measures now 

 adopted at the Fames and elsewhere, the species has resumed 

 its nesting in some of its old haunts. 



I have, moreover, received the following interesting note from 

 Mr. J. T. Proud, of Bishop Auckland : " I am glad to say that 

 I know of a nice little colony of Roseate Terns breeding with 

 the Common and Arctic Terns, in Wales. I have this year 

 (1896) spent considerable time in making sure of the correct 

 identification of the eggs. I found by marking the nests and 

 watching the birds on to them, that the eggs (never more than 

 two in number} were quite different from those of the Arctic 

 and Common Terns, and having once made sure of the 

 difference, there was no mistaking them."* 



Mr. R. J. Ussher says that, in Ireland, the species formerly 

 bred on islands off the coasts of Down, Dublin, and Wexford. 



* Mr Proud very kindly sent up the eggs and the bird, which I handed 

 over to Mr. Saunders, and he exhibited them at the meeting of the B. O. 

 Club on the 2oth of January, 1897. 



