ARCTIC TERN. 285 



he had discovered. The consequence of this unwise step was that in the 

 following year Temminck renamed the species, on the ground that both the 

 specific names given by Naumann were inappropriate ; and Temminck's 

 name has been adopted by an overwhelming majority of ornithologists. 

 Selby was probably the first writer to point out that the Arctic Tern was a 

 common British bird. 



It is the Tern par excellence of the British coasts, especially north of 

 the Tweed. It breeds in the Shetlands (where it replaces the Common 

 Tern), in the Orkneys, throughout the Hebrides, and in all suitable places 

 on the entire coast-line of Scotland, but always prefers an island to 

 the mainland. On the east coast of England its great stronghold is on the 

 Fame Islands ; whilst on the west it breeds on the shores of Cumber- 

 land, on Walney Island, and in a few localities on the Welsh coast. On 

 the south coast it certainly breeds on the Scilly Islands, but is rarer 

 than the Common Tern, whilst on the Channel Islands it is only known as 

 passing on migration. In Ireland it breeds in many localities, principally 

 on the west coast. 



The geographical distribution and the migrations of the Arctic Tern are 

 perhaps more curious and interesting than those of any other British bird ; 

 but no ornithologist appears to have understood their peculiarities or 

 attempted to explain them. The Arctic Tern appears to have been originally 

 an oceanic species, visiting in summer the North Atlantic, and breeding in 

 Spitzbergen, the coast of Norway, the basin of the Baltic, the Faroes, Iceland, 

 Greenland, the shores of Baffin's and Hudson Bays, and the east coasts of 

 Canada and the United States as far south as Massachusetts. In winter its 

 range was confined, as it now is, to the Atlantic. It visits the Azores, the 

 Canaries, and the west coast of Africa down to the Cape. It enters the Medi- 

 terranean as far east as the Adriatic, and has been known to round the 

 Cape and wander as far as Madagascar. On the American side it ranges 

 as far south as the coasts of Brazil, occasionally crossing the isthmus of 

 Panama to the coasts of Northern Peru. This winter range appears to 

 have always been extensive enough ; but as their numbers increased, the 

 Arctic Terns appear to have extended their breeding-range east and 

 west. The eastern line of migration apparently extends across country 

 from the Gulf of Finland to the lower valleys of the Petchora, the 

 Obb, the Yenesay, and the Lena, down which some of the birds migrate 

 to the Arctic Ocean, following the break-up of the ice on these 

 great rivers. The western line of migration extends along the shores 

 and lakes of Arctic America, the two streams of migrants meeting at 

 Behring's Straits, where the Arctic Tern breeds in great numbers, although 

 it apparently is unknown in the North Pacific. This geographical distri- 

 bution, if I have understood it rightly, is a most interesting case of the 

 breeding-range having been extended until it has become circumpolar ; but, 



