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HAVELL'S TERN. 



Sterna Havelli. 



PLATE CCCCIX. Adult. 



I HAVE several reasons for naming this Tern after Mr Robert 

 Havell, of Oxford Street, London. In the first place I consider him 

 as one of the best ornithological engravers in England. Secondly, I 

 feel greatly indebted to him for the interest which he has always 

 evinced in my publication, which, I dare venture to assert, is the largest 

 work of the kind that has hitherto appeared, and the engraving of 

 which has cost him much trouble and anxiety. Thirdly, I consider 

 myself entitled to express my gratitude in this manner, the individual 

 on whom I confer the honour being more deserving of it than many 

 to whom similar compliments have been paid. 



I shot several individuals of this species out of a number congre- 

 gated on the broad eddies opposite New Orleans, in 1820. They were 

 engaged in picking up floating coleopterous insects ; but after I had fired 

 several shots, and was rowing to those which had fallen on the water, 

 the rest flew off. Since that time it had not been my fortune to meet 

 with any birds of the same species, until I visited the Texas in the 

 spring of 1837, when two of them were procured. 



Stekna Havelli. 



Adult in winter plumage. Plate CCCCIX. Fig. 1. 



Bill about the length of the head, rather stout, much compressed, 

 acute. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly declinato-convex, 

 the ridge convex at the base, very narrow in the rest of its extent, the 

 sides sloping at the base, nearly erect and convex toward the end, 

 the edges sharp and inflected, the tip very narrow. Nasal groove ra- 

 ther short, but with a channel surmounted by a ridge running from its 

 anterior part to the edge of the mandible about half an inch from the 

 tip. Lower mandible with the angle very narrow and acute, extend- 



