GULL-BILLED TERN. 



STERNA ANGLIC A. 

 GULL-BILLED TERN. 



(PLATE 47.) 



Sterna nilotica, Omel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 606 (1788). 



Sterna anglica, Mont. Orn. Diet. Suppl. (1813) ; et auctonun plurimorum 



Naumann, Temminck, (Jerdon), (Dresser), (Saunders), &c. 

 Sterna aranea, Wils. Am. Orn. viii. p. 143, pi. 72. fig. 6 (1814). 

 Sterna affinis, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. 1820, xiii. p. 199. 

 Thalasseus anglicus (Mont.), Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 563. 

 Viralva anglica (Mont.), Steph. STiaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. i. p. 174 (1825). 

 Laropis anglica (Mont.), Wagler, Isis, 1832, p. 1225. 

 Sterna macrotarsa, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1837, p. 26. 



Geochelidon anglica (Mont.) i ^ C(mp ^ p Eur ^ ^ Amer ^ (1838) 



Geocliehdon aranea ( Wilson), i 



Viralva aranea ( Wils.), Gould, Voy. ' Beagle] iii. p. 145 (1841). 

 Gelochelidon palustris, Macgill. Man. Brit. B. ii. p. 237 (1842). 

 Gelochelidon macrotarsa (Gould), Gould, Handb. B. Austral, ii. p. 403 (1865). 



Probably no one, except a blind devotee of the Stricklandian Code, 

 would refuse to Hasselquist the merit of having discovered the Gull-billed 

 Tern in great numbers on the banks of the Nile. It was rediscovered 

 half a century later almost simultaneously by Montagu in England and by 

 Wilson in America. Montagu's example was shot by himself in Sussex, 

 and he states that he saw two others shot in the same county. Since then 

 nearly a score examples have been obtained in England, but it has not 

 occurred in Scotland or Ireland. About half of these occurrences have 

 been in spring and half in autumn; one was shot near Leeds and one 

 near Blackpool ; six have been obtained at different times in Norfolk, and 

 seven on the south coast of England. It can only be regarded as a rare 

 straggler on migration to the east and south coasts of England. 



The breeding-range of the Gull-billed Tern extends almost round the 

 world. It is a summer visitor to several localities in Denmark ; but to the~ 

 rest of Europe it must be regarded as a straggler on migration, except in 

 Southern Spain and the basin of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. It is 

 not known to winter in any part of Europe, but is common during that 

 season in Africa north of the Sahara, where a few remain to breed. It is 

 a summer visitor to the salt lakes of Turkestan, Cashmere, and South 

 Mongolia, wintering in Persia, India, Ceylon, Burma, and throughout the 

 Malay archipelago. It has once been obtained in South China, and a great 

 number remain to breed in South Persia and a few in North-west India. 

 It has been recorded from several localities in Australia, and has been said 



