248 STERNID^E. 



SPECIES 236 THE WHITE-WINGED BLACK TERN. 



Sterna leucoptera. Meissner. 

 Hirondelle de mer leucoptere. Temm. 



THIS remarkable-looking bird, as rare as it is singular in the 

 appearance of its plumage, has been twice obtained in Ire- 

 land (in no case having occurred in England). Of these 

 specimens, the first was obtained by the same gentleman* who 

 was so fortunate in shooting the rare -whiskered tern, and the 

 broad-billed sandpiper, both species respectively their first 

 occurrence in Ireland. It was shot near Ringsend, on the 

 south side of the Liffey. Another specimen came into our 

 possession, with the collection of the late William Massey, 

 Esq., of the Pigeon House Fort ; and was obtained by that 

 gentleman in Dublin Bay. 

 Habitat Northern Africa. 



SPECIES 237 THE LESSER TERN. 



Sterna minuta. Linn. 



Hirondelle de mer petite. Temm. 



Skirr. Fairybird. 



THE smallest of the Sternidse, the lesser tern yields to none 

 of the preceding in the grace of its movements, or the neat- 

 ness of its plumage. Differing from the other species in its 

 numbers, and choice of breeding place, it is seldom found ni- 

 difying on rocky islets like them, but occupies, for that pur- 

 pose, some unfrequented sandbank by the shore. 



One of the earliest of the terns in arriving upon our 

 shores, and in one instance so early that, on the 26th April, 

 1850, nearly thirty of these terns were observed actively 

 engaged fishing in the vicinity of Greystones, county of 

 Wicklow, a locality much frequented during summer. From 

 inquiries instituted at the time, a few pairs annually nidify 

 along the shingly range of the beach, in places where some few 

 years previously thirty or forty pair existed. In a similar man- 

 ner upon the Dublin coast, Dr. Hans Lloyd, of Malahide, 

 has directed our attention to localities whence he had received 

 eggs of the common and lesser terns, the nests being placed 

 in the midst of the bent grass in the hollows of the sandbanks 

 extending from Malahide to Portrane. To our observation, 

 for a period extending over five years, this locality has not 

 been tenanted by a single pair. 



Breeding in limited numbers upon the western coast, on 



* Mr. John Hill. 



