310 LAKID^E. ; 



In winter the upper part of the head is white broadly streaked 

 with black, and there is a white collar behind the head all round. 



Young birds resemble adults in winter plumage, but have more 

 black round the orbit : at an early stage the scapulars, tertiaries, 

 wing-coverts, and tail-feathers are dark brown or barred with 

 brown and have whitish edges ; the primaries are blackish. 



Bill coral-red in summer, duller in winter, with the terminal 

 portion dusky ; irides dark brown ; legs and feet black. 



Length 20 ; tail 5*75, depth of fork 1'25 ; wing 15'5 ; tarsus 

 1-75 ; bill from gape 3-8. 



Distribution. JNorth America soufh of the Arctic circle, Europe 

 as far north as 60 N. lat., all Africa, temperate and tropical 

 Asia, the Malay Archipelago, Australia, and New Zealand. This 

 Tern occurs in many parts of India, Ceylon, and Burma, but is by 

 no means generally distributed. It is particularly common in 

 Sind. 



Habits, $'c. The Caspian Tern occurs singly or in pairs about 

 rivers and large pieces of water, fresh or salt, and also on the sea- 

 coast, and it may be recognized at a considerable distance by its 

 habit, when looking for food, of flying over the water with its bill 

 directed downwards. It has a harsh cry, which it always utters, 

 according to Hume, when hit by a shot, and it lives on fish and 

 prawns. The majority of the Caspian Terns visiting India 

 probably breed elsewhere one great breeding-place is on an island 

 at the head of the Persian Gulf but this species is not truly 

 migratory ; and a small colony was found by Mr. H. Parker, in 

 June, breeding on one of the sand-banks at Adam's Bridge, North 

 Ceylon. One or two eargs, greyish white or buff, and double- 

 spotted, each measuring about 2'43 by 1*70, were found in each 

 case in a small hollow in the sand. 



Genus STERNA, Linn., 1766. 



Bill varying, but as a rule long, slender, and straight, or very 

 slightly curved, more or less compressed ; feet as a rule small, but 

 the toes completely webbed ; the tarsus a Jittle shorter than the 

 middle toe and claw, except in S. anglica, in which it is slightly 

 lengthened. "Wings long, first primary longest. Tail varying in 

 length, always distinctly forked, the outer pair of rectrices con- 

 siderably longer than the others. 



In the British Museum Catalogue S. anglica and S. seena are 

 regarded as generically distinct, each being placed in a genus by 

 itself, whilst S. ancestheta and S. fuliginosa, which form a link 

 with Anous, and appear to have better claims to separation than 

 S. seena., are left in the genus. On the whole it is most convenient 

 to group all under Sterna. 



Terns are of world-wide distribution, and the genus Sterna 

 includes about 35 species, of which sixteen are Indian. All the 

 species have a peculiar flight, and capture their food by pouncing 

 on it or by scooping it up from the water, and they very rarely 

 are seen swimming. 



