RARER BRITISH BIRDS. 97 



GULL-BILLED TERN. 



Sterna Anglica. MONTAGU. 



THE naturalist, whose name is attached to the specific 

 appellation of this bird, was the first who distinguished it, 

 in the supplement to the " Ornithological Dictionary," from the 

 Sandwich Tern, which it much resembles in some stages of its 



plumage. 



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Some doubts have been entertained whether the S. Anglica of 

 Montagu and Temminck are synonymous ; for our own part, we 

 think, without a cause, Mr. Jenyns, in his " Manual of British 

 Vertebrata," and Mr. Selby, in his " Illustrations of British 

 Ornithology," concur in thinking them so. 



In summer, the Gull-billed Tern has the crown, occiput, and 



upper part of the neck, black ; upper plumage, light blueish 



grey ; lower plumage and tail, white ; tips of the quills, and the 



half of the inner webs, next the shafts, grey, darkest at the tip. 



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