546 



Lilford (Zool. 1881, p. 26). It is doubtful if any individuals 

 of this species are to be found on our coasts by the end of 

 August. 



The Roseate Tern is an oceanic and southern species, 

 which is not known to range beyond 57 N. lat., and it is 

 merely a straggler to the islands and coasts of Denmark and 

 the North Sea. On the islets of the north-west of France 

 there are several colonies, and although exceedingly rare in 

 the Mediterranean, a specimen has been obtained off the 

 Balearic Islands in May, and one on the coast of Liguria in 

 June. Mr. Godman observed it in the Azores, but its course 

 cannot be traced down the west coast of Africa, although the 

 Editor has examined several specimens from the Cape of 

 Good Hope and Natal. From the east coast of Africa its 

 range extends to Madagascar and the islands of the Indian 

 Ocean up to Ceylon, where Mr. Parker found it nesting ; the 

 Bay of Bengal, and the Andaman Islands, where Captain 

 Wimberley obtained both birds and eggs in June, some of 

 which he presented to the Editor. Visiting Burmah and 

 Tenasserim, this species ranges through the Malay Archi- 

 pelago to Torres Straits, where it breeds ; Gilbert found it 

 rearing its young on Houtman's Abrolhos, off the west coast 

 of Australia, in November, and Mr. E. L. Layard has re- 

 cently sent home both birds and eggs from New Caledonia 

 and the neighbouring islands. 



In America, where it is far more abundant than in Europe, 

 it breeds on the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Florida, 

 and in the Bermudas ; also in Central America, where Mr. 

 Salvin obtained it ; and it visits Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, 

 and St. Thomas. American examples are on the average a 

 trifle larger and stronger-billed than European specimens ; 

 and birds from South Africa, Ceylon, the Andaman Islands, 

 Australia, and New Caledonia sometimes exhibit a larger 

 amount of orange-red at the basal half of the bill than speci- 

 mens from the northern hemisphere. On this preponderance 

 of red Mr. Gould's Sterna gracilis is mainly founded, but 

 the Editor, who has examined the typical specimen in the 

 British Museum, can see nothing in it to warrant specific 





