WHISKERED TERN. 513 



from, and made the arrangement by which I became pos- 

 sessed of it. 



This species has not previously been killed nearer than 

 the coast of Picardy, where M. Temminck states that M. 

 Jules de la Motte, of Abbeville, once saw several examples 

 in a marsh ; he killed three ; and M. Vieillot includes 

 this Tern in consequence among the Birds of France. 



But little is known of the habits of this Tern. It was 

 first discovered in the southern part of Hungary, by M. 

 Natterer, of Vienna. M. Brehm includes it in his Birds 

 of Germany. M. Temminck mentions that he has met 

 with this species in the marshes of Capo dTstria, and on 

 the coast of Dalmatia ; it has been found also in Syria 

 and in Egypt. M. Temminck further states that speci- 

 mens received from Borneo do not differ in any respect 

 from those obtained in Europe. M. Savi includes this 

 Tern in his Ornithology of Italy, but considers it a very rare 

 species, of which only three examples had been obtained. 



It is said to feed on winged insects and aquatic worms ; 

 but its mode of nesting and its eggs are, I believe, as yet 

 but little known. During his late visit to London, Dr. 

 L. Thienemann gave me an egg of this rare Tern : it is 

 one inch and a half long by one inch and one- eighth in 

 breadth ; the ground colour asparagus green, spotted with 

 brownish-black, and a few spots of bluish-grey. 



In the specimen killed on the Dorsetshire coast, and 

 now before me, the bill is red, inclining to dark brown on 

 the edges of both mandibles towards the point ; the bill 

 rather stout, with the inferior angle of the under man- 

 dible prominent, an approximation to the form of the under 

 mandible in the Gull-billed Tern, next to be described, 

 The irides brownish-black; forehead, crown, and nape 

 black ; from the base of the upper mandible, in a line 



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