STERNA 815 



viii. p. 295, pi. 585 ; (Saunders), Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxv. p. 25 ; 

 id. Manual, p. 639 ; Lilford, vi. p. 9, pi. 4 ; S. aranea, Wils. 

 Am. Orn. viii. p. 143, pi. 72, fig. 6 (1814) ; ? S. nilotica, Gmel. 

 Syst. Nat. i. p. 606 (1788) ; (Ridgway), p. 38 ; S. macrotarsa, 

 Gould, P.Z.S. 1837, p. 26 ; (id.), B. of Austral. Suppl. pi. 81 ; 

 Tacz. F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 1004. 



Sterne hansel, French; G-olondrina de mar, Cagard, Span.; 

 Beccapesci-inglese, Ital. ; Lach-meerschwalbe, German ; Lach- 

 Zeezwalmv, Dutch ; Engelsk-Terne, Dan. ; Tschernonosaya- 

 Martyschka, Russ. 



ad. (Turkey). Crown and nape glossy black leaving a white line 

 along the edge of the gape ; chin, throat, sides of neck and under parts 

 white ; upper parts with the tail pale bluish pearl-grey ; quills towards 

 the tip and the inner web blackish grey, lighter in the centre ; bill and 

 legs black ; iris brown. Culmen 1'6, wing 11-65, tail 5'0, lateral tail- 

 feathers 1*6 inch longer than the middle ones, tarsus 1'2. In winter the 

 forehead is white, the nape greyish white striped with black ; space before 

 the eye marked with black ; behind the eye a blackish stripe. 



Hob. Europe, to about 55 N. lat. in summer; a rare straggler 

 to Great Britain, but nests on the island of Sylt; Northern 

 Africa down to below Kordofan ; temperate and Southern Asia, 

 north to Mongolia ; Manchuria ; in winter somewhat irregularly 

 distributed in Burma, India, and Ceylon, and ranging as far 

 south as Australia, where it breeds. 



In habits it somewhat resembles S. cantiaca, but is more 

 Gull-like, and its note, ef ef, or af af, is much more like that of 

 a Gull. It feeds also largely on insects, orthoptera, coleoptera, 

 and lepidoptera, locusts and grasshoppers. It breeds in com- 

 munities, the nest being a mere depression in the sand or soil, 

 sometimes with a scanty lining of straws, and in May or early in 

 June deposits 2 to 3, rarely 4 eggs. These vary in ground-colour 

 from stone-ochre and greyish white to pale greenish brown 

 marked with pale greyish brown shell spots, and greenish or 

 reddish brown surface spots and blotches, and measure about 

 1-85 by 1-36. 



1122. LITTLE TERN. 

 STERNA MINUTA. 



.Sterna minuta, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 228 (1766) ; Naum. x. p. 145, Taf. 

 254 ; Hewitson, ii. p. 484, pi. cxxxiv. fig. 1 ; Gould, B. of E. v. 

 pi. 420 ; (id.), B. of Gt. Brit. v. pi. 73 ; Dresser, viii. p. 279, pi. 

 582 ; Saunders, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxv. p. 116 ; id. Manual, p. 651 ; 

 Blanford, F. Brit. Ind. Birds, iv. p. 321 ; Lilford, vi. p. 21, pi. 10. 



