BLACK TERN. 3 



The Terns are nearly cosmopolitan in their distribution, as 

 they are found in most of the seas of the Old and New Worlds. 

 Many are marsh and river Terns, as will be seen in our 

 enumeration of the British species. 



THE BLACK TERNS. GENUS HYDROCHELIDON. 



Hydrochelidon^ Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 563. 



Type, H, nigra (Linn.). 



The Black Terns are only four in number, and three of these 

 have occurred within our limits, namely, the White-winged 

 Black Tern, the Whiskered Tern, and the Black Tern. The 

 latter, H. m'gra, is an Old World species of wide range, and is 

 replaced in America by H. surinamensis, which is a darker 

 bird with blacker feet, nesting in temperate North America, 

 and extending to Central and South America in winter. 



I. THE BLACK TERN. HYDROCHELIDON NIGRA. 



Sterna nigra, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 227 (1766); Seebohm, Hist. 



Brit. B. iii. p. 254 (1885). 

 Hydrochelidon nigra, Macgill. Brit. B. v. p. 658 (1852); Dresser, 



B. Eur. viii. p. 327, pi. 592 (1876); B. O. U. List Brit. B. 



p. 185 (1883); Saunders, ed. Yarrell's Brit. B.-iii. p. 516 



(1884); id. Man. Brit. B. p. 617 (1889); Lilford, Col. 



Fig. Brit. B. part xxxviii (1894); Saunders, Cat. B. Brit. 



Mus. xxv. p. 17 (1896). 



(Plate XCIV.} 



Nestling. Fawn colour above, with black markings arranged 

 in pairs on the back and sides of the rump, with a single patch 

 on the mantle ; the head with a line of black above each eye, 

 and a triple line on the nape ; sides of face white ; the under 

 surface of body clove-brown, becoming darker brown on the 

 throat and sides of body. 



Young in First Plumage. Differs from the winter plumage 

 of the adult in having all the feathers of the back and wings 

 tipped with brown, this colour obscuring the whole of the 



B 2 



