270 BRITISH BIRDS. 



My friend Mr. Johnson, who visited the colony on Sylt in 1871, writes 

 to me as follows : 



" We started early on the 1st of June from the little village of List and 

 arrived at the lighthouse on the Elbow, as the most northerly part of the 

 island is called, about half-past eleven. Long before we reached the colony, 

 which surrounds the remains of an old wreck lying high and dry on the 

 sand, the birds began to hover and scream over us. We saw seventeen 

 nests, if a mere indentation in the sand may be called a nest, containing 

 from one to three eggs each, all apparently quite fresh. The birds were 

 extremely bold and noisy ; they rose in the air to a great height, when some 

 separated from the main body and came dashing down to within ten or 

 twelve feet of our heads, angrily screaming all the time, and then returned 

 to the main flock, which continued to scream and to fly over our heads 

 whilst we remained near the eggs." 



It is not known that the Caspian Tern ever lays more than three eggs. 

 They vary iu ground-colour from buffish white to buffish brown; the 

 surface-markings, never very large, are brown, and the underlying markings, 

 always very conspicuous, are grey. Occasionally most of the spots are 

 round the large end of the egg, but generally they are distributed over the 

 whole surface. The eggs vary in length from 2' 7 to 2'4 inch, and in 

 breadth from 1*8 to 1'7 inch. They resemble very closely in colour those 

 of the Gull-billed Tern, but are always much larger. 



Hume, describing the habits of the Caspian Tern in Scind, remarks : 

 " I have counted more than fifty on the wing at the same time, each bird 

 flying separately on his own responsibility, and never, so far as I have 

 noticed, associated in flocks or parties as is so often the case with the other 

 Terns and Gulls. The local name is Keykra, which does approximately 

 (at any rate when pronounced by the native fishermen) represent the harsh 

 cry of this species. Usually, when not interfered with, this species may 

 be distinguished at a great distance by its long pointed bill turned down- 

 wards at right angles to the body." 



The Caspian Tern is the largest of the British Terns, and is a heavier 

 bird than a Common Gull, but the tail has not a very deep fork (about If 

 inch) . This species in each of its various stages of plumage scarcely differs 

 from the corresponding plumages of the group of Terns of which the Arctic 

 Tern is a typical example, except that the forehead is never white, but 

 always of the same colour as the crown. Bill scarlet, with a black tip, in 

 the adult in breeding-plumage; orange, with more black at the tip, in 

 winter plumage ; and yellowish brown, darker at the tip, in the immature 

 birds. Legs and feet black in the adult, brown in the young; irides 

 hazel. 



Young in down have the upper parts greyish white, mottled with grey, 

 and the under parts dull white. 



