280 BRITISH BIRDS. 



STERNA HIRUNDO. 

 COMMON TERN. 



(PLATE 46.) 



Sterna major, Briss. Orn. vi. p. 203 (1760). 



Sterna hirundo, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 227 (1766, partim) ; et auctorum pluri- 



morum Temminck, Degland Sf Gerbe, Baird, Brewer, 8f Ridgway, &c. (nee 



Dresser). 



Larus bicolor, i 



Larus sterna, i Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. pp. 81, 82, 83 (1769). 

 Larus columbinus, ) 



Sterna fluviatilis, Naumann, Isis, 1819, p. 1847. 

 Sterna senegalensis, Swains. B. W. Afr. ii. p. 250 (1837). 

 Sterna wilsoni, Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. 4 N. Amer. p. 61 (1838). 

 Hydrocecropis hirundo {Linn.), Boie, Isis, 1844, p. 179. 

 Sterna chelidon, Licht. Nomencl. Av. p. 97 (1854). 

 Sterna macrodactyla, I ^ . Jmrn Qrn 1 ^ 



Sterna macroptera, ) 



Next to the Arctic Tern, the Common Tern is perhaps the best-known 

 British species, although it is, especially in the north, much less abundant. 

 In the Shetlands it is replaced by the Arctic Tern ; but scattered colonies 

 are found in suitable situations from the Orkneys, along the coast of 

 Sutherlandshire, down to the Lancashire coast on the west, including the 

 Hebrides, and down to the Fame Islands in the east. In all these localities 

 the Arctic Tern is, however, the most abundant species, but south of these 

 limits the Common Tern becomes more plentiful. It breeds sparingly in 

 suitable places round the coasts of England and Wales, but is much rarer 

 on the Channel and Scilly Islands. In Ireland the Common Tern appears 

 to be the most abundant, and breeds in suitable situations round the coast, 

 as well as on some of the inland lakes. 



Like the Arctic Tern, the Common Tern is an Atlantic Ocean bird, but 

 does not range as far north as the Arctic circle. On the American coast 

 its breeding-range extends from Labrador to the Bermudas, and probably 

 to Texas and Florida. In winter it is found from the Southern States 

 down to Bahia, on the Atlantic coast of South America. It breeds as far 

 north and west as the Great-Bear Lake, but it has not been recorded from 

 the Pacific coast. In the Old World it breeds on the eastern shores of the 

 Atlantic from the Arctic circle to the Mediterranean, but is not found in 

 Iceland or the Faroes, although it breeds on the Azores, Madeira, and the 

 Canaries. Inland it breeds on the shores of the large rivers and lakes, on 



