TERN. NATATORES. STERNA. 463 



CASPIAN TERN, 



STERNA CASPIA, Pall. 



Sterna Caspia, Pall Nov. Com. Petrov. 14. 582. No. 52 Gmel. Syst. 1 

 603 Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. 803. sp. 1 Steph. Shaw's ZooL 13, 145. 



Sterna Tschegrava, Nov. Com. Petrov. 14. 500. t. 132. 



Hirondelle-de-Mer Tschegrava, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. 2. 733. 



Grosse oder Caspischc Meerschwalbe, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 4. 675. 



Grosse schnabliger Meerschwalbe, Meyer, Vog. 2. Heft. 28. t. 6. 



Caspian Tern, Penn. Arct. Zool. 2. 526. B Id. Sup. p. 76 Lath. Syn. 

 350. 1. Steph. Shaw's Zool. 13. 145. 



THE capture of two or three individuals of this species in Very rare 

 the south-eastern parts of England, entitles it to rank in the Vlsltant - 

 list of our Fauna as a very rare visitant ; in consequence of 

 which rarity its habits have been exposed to very little obser- 

 vation, and the details of the various authors who notice it 

 scarcely extend beyond a description of its plumage. I must 

 therefore request the indulgence of my readers to a meagre 

 and unsatisfactory account. This bird is one of the largest 

 of its genus, some specimens measuring as much as twenty- 

 two inches in length. In Europe it inhabits the coasts of the 

 Baltic, the Caspian Sea, and the Archipelago. It also occurs 

 in Africa, being met with at Senegal and the Cape of Good 

 Hope ; and, according to LATHAM, is known in India and 

 in the Chinese seas, though under rather a different aspect, 

 which renders it not improbable that the bird he has imagined 

 to be a variety of the Caspian Tern, may actually be a dis- 

 tinct species, since so many of them nearly resemble each 

 other in plumage. The habits of the bird now before us are 

 presumed to be similar to those of the other oceanic Terns ; 

 and we are informed that it precipitates itself, like them, from 

 a considerable height in the air upon its food, which consists F OO( }. 

 of living fish. Mr STEPHENS, in Shaw's General Zoology, 

 says that its manners rather resemble those of the Gulls, 



adding that its voice is like the noise made by a man in 



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