WHITE-WINGED BLACK TERN. 529 



rivers, and marshes of the countries in the vicinity of the 

 Alps ; is very common ahout the lakes of Lucarno, Lu- 

 gano, Como, Isco and Guarda ; and is occasionally seen on 

 the Lake of Geneva." It is included by Dr. Schinz in 

 his Fauna Helvetica, but it is not seen in the north of 

 France or in Holland. M. Brehm includes it in his work 

 on the Birds of Germany, page 796, and M. Nilsson has 

 given a very good figure of this species in the illustrations 

 to his Fauna of Scandinavia, plate 121 ; M. Savi includes 

 it in his birds of Italy, vol. iii. page 83 ; and M. Malherbe 

 says that it appears in Sicily in spring, and is seen from 

 Lake Lenteni to the environs of Catania and Syracuse, 

 but is more rare in the northern part of the island. Mr. 

 H. M. Drummond observed a few of this species on the 

 river between the lakes at Biserta, about forty miles to 

 the westward of Tunis, as recorded in the Annals of 

 Natural History for August, 1845. M. Temminck also 

 mentions that this Tern is common in spring in Dalmatia, 

 but does not breed there, and was gone by July. 



This species is not included in the lists of the Birds 

 of Corfu, Crete, Smyrna, or Tripoli, to which I have so 

 frequently had the advantage of referring, but Keith 

 Abbott, Esq. sent a specimen from Trebizond to the 

 Zoological Society in 1834. I do not find the name of this 

 species in any of the lists of the birds of India, of China or 

 Japan to which I have access. 



The food of this Tern consists principally of dragon-flies, 

 and other winged aquatic insects. Neither the eggs, nor 

 the winter plumage of this species appear to be known. 

 M. Temminck in a note in his Manual, vol. ii. page 748, 

 mentions his strong supposition that the Sterna plumbed of 

 Wilson may be this bird in winter ; but in addition to the 

 circumstance that the Sterna leucoptera is not included 



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