LAIUD/E — THE GULLS AND TEKNS - STERNA. 



207 



Occasional i)airs of this sjjeeies wore observed in the Fur Region, even as far as 

 (lie Arctic coast. An exanii)U' was taken by Mr. Kenuicott, ilunc 6, 1855), on Lake 

 Wiunipeg; anotiier at Fort Kae, by Mr. L. Clarke; one on the Arcti(( coast below 

 Anderson Kiver, in June, 1803, by Mr. MacFarlane ; and three on Uig Island, in Great 

 Slave T/ike, by Mr. J. Ileid. 



In Europe, according to Yarrcll, it is found to be less common than it was once 

 supiiosed to be, when it was confounded with two other distinct species, on account 

 (il tlieir general resenddance to each other when on the wing, and the fact that their 

 lialiits are almost identical. 



Mr. AVheehvright states that this species is the most common Tern on the coast 

 (il Seandinavia, and that it breeds far inland, on Lake Wener, and even goes up 

 into Lapland. In the winter it visits Germany, Holland, France, Spain, Italy, and 

 tlir Mediterranean. 



In England it breeds occasionally on rocks or on banks of shingle above the sea- 

 hcacli ; but generally seems to prefer building on the ground, in marshes, or on small, 

 low, and sandy islands. 



It is not counnon — if indeed it breeds at all — on the Pacific coast; but through- 

 out (!alil'ornia — according to Dr. Ileermann — it is very abundant along the rivers in 

 tlic interior during the summer, retiring soiithward in the winter. Dr. Cooper never 

 nut with it on the sea-coast of California, and has never visited its summer resorts, 

 except during the cold weather ; nor did he see it on the Columbia Kiver. 



This Tern breeds on the islands of I?ermuda in the summer, but is not very abun- 

 dant there. Mr. llurdis states that in August Gannet-head liock teems with it and 

 its young. It is known at Hevnuula as the " Red-shank ; " on the coast of Massa- 

 chusetts it is called the " Mackerel Gull ; " and on Long Island and the coast of New 

 Jersey it is th(! " Summer Gull." In common with the Arctic Tern, and one or two 

 others of the smaller kinds, it is known as a " Sea Swallow " in England. 



Mr. Bernard Ross met Avith it on the Mackenzie River ; the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution has specimens received from Nelson's River; and Jlr. Murray obtained speci- 

 mens that were taken at Hudson's Bay. Mr. MacFarlane found it breeding on the 

 Lower Anderson River, and it is also known to breed on the shores of Franklin Bay 

 ;nid of the Arctic Ocean. 



i\Ir. Dresser obtained one specimen at San Antonio in May, 1864, and in June he 

 found numbers breeding in Galveston Bay, the eggs being either just hatched out, 

 or hatching. The nests were made in the high piles of drift stuff, and the eggs 

 wi're three, in some instances four, in number. Mr. Audubon also mentions finding 

 it breeding on Galveston Island; and on his voyage to Labrador he met with this 

 .same species nesting on the ^Magdalen Islands ; and afterward in the neighborhood of 

 American Harbor, on the coast of Labrador. 



According to Giraud, this Tern arrives on the coast of Long Island and in New 

 Jcisi'y in the latter part of the month of April, and begins to lay early in May, de- 

 jiositing three eggs. It continues on that coast in great numbers until the approach 

 of winter, when they all appear to retire beyond the limits of the United States. Dr. 

 Bryant found it breeding as far south as Florida. 



On the Island of IMuskegat — a low, irregular collection of shifting sandbars, less 

 than three miles in length, and hardly half a mile in its greatest breadth — lying 

 bi'tu-een the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, this Tern formerly bred 

 ill great numbers, in company with the Roseate and Arctic Terns and the Laughing 

 Gull, this species in 1842 being bj'^ far the most abundant. 



Spending a week, in August, 1873, on the Island of Benikcse, one of the smallest 

 VOL. ir. — 38 



