ARCTIC TERN. 



Sterna arctica, FLEMING. SELBY. JENYNS. 



* * EYTON. GOULD. YARKELL. 



Sterna.. ? Arctica Arctic. 



THE Arctic Tern, as conveyed by its name, is a bird of the 

 north, and rears its youag on the shores that are washed by 

 the Arctic Seas, both those of the mainland of Europe, Asia, 

 and America, and the lonely islands that are exposed on all 

 sides to the raving blasts of the Polar Furies Melville Island, 

 Greenland, Iceland, and the Ferroe Islands; Baffin's Bay, 

 Siberia, and Kamtschatka; also in the milder regions of 

 Norway, Sweden, Lapland, Holstein, and Denmark, and farther 

 south, in Holland, Italy, and the Mediterranean; and in 

 Africa at the Cape of Good Hope. 



In Yorkshire, individuals of thi- species have occurred inland 

 near Sheffield; on the coast they are plentiful; so also in 

 Durham. The Arctic Tern is not uncommon on the Norfolk 

 coast; it has been occasionally killed near Oxford, and in 

 other parts of that county. Tn Worcestershire, one, a young 

 bird, was shot on the banks of the Severn, near Worcester, 

 in October, 1846; great numbers had spread up the river in 

 the second week in June, 1842. Also in Glamorganshire, at 

 Swansea; in Monmouthshire; and in Somersetshire, at Bridge- 

 water, Bristol, Clevedon, Weston, and other places; flocks of 

 them appeared in the towns, hundreds were knocked down, 

 and some even perched on persons in the streets. The like 

 occurred in Worcestershire near Worcester, Evesham, and at 

 Cofton Hall, one of the seats of the Throckmorton family, a 

 place associated with most pleasing recollections of my school- 

 days: then, however, buried in deep retirement, now a railroad 

 passes in front of it! Considerable flights were also seen in 

 Gloucestershire, at Tewkesbury; in Herefordshire, near Here- 



