ALLIED TERN. ' 55 



Temminck informs us that it occurs in the Grecian Archipelago, on 

 the Bosphorus, and the borders of the Danube. Degland adds to 

 these localities the borders of the Caspian Sea. Blasius does not 

 include it in "Der Wirbelthiere/' but states, in " Nauinannia," 1855, 

 that there are grounds for its admission. It is not, however, mentioned 

 by Count Miihle or Dr. Lindermayer as being found in Greece, 

 neither is it included in Lord Lilford's list of birds occurring in 

 the Ionian Islands, nor by INIr. Simpson among those of Western 

 Greece. Probably there has been some confusion between this bird 

 and the Gull-billed Tern, f Sterna anglica.J It is better known, 

 however, in Africa and Asia than in- Europe. 



Mr. Tristram includes it among his Syrian birds, ("Ibis," vol. i, p. 

 88;) and in the same volume, p. 350, Dr. Heuglin records its occur- 

 rence on the shores of the Red Sea, and most commonly on the 

 southern coast. Temminck received specimens from New Guinea, 

 Cerara, and Celebes: and in the thirteenth volume of the "Linucean 

 Transactions," p. 190, No. 3, Dr. Horsfield describes it as S. media 

 among the birds of Java, the aS*. affinis, No. 5 of that paper, belonging 

 to the Gull-billed Tern, S. anglica of Montagu. 



Lieutenant-Colonel Irby (op. cit.) remarks of this bird: — "It is 

 one of the least common of the Terns near Tangier, and only occa- 

 sionally met with. Further south in the vicinity of Laroche it is more 

 frequently seen; and I found it there during Sejjtember, October, 

 and November, in com})any with S. cantiaca, which species it re- 

 sembles in its habits. It occurs in the Straits in the spring. I 

 obtained two specimens, both males, shot near Tarifa on the 20th. 

 of April, 1874, and have seen others from Tangier; most probably 

 they breed somewhere on the coast. It is very much like the 

 Sandwich Tern f S. cantiaca) , but is a trifle larger, and has the bill 

 yellow. I found on comparing male specimens shot on the same 

 day that it also differs from that species in having the bill stouter in 

 proportion, and the lower mandible slightly angulated, or "Gull 

 billed." The feathers of the black crest are more elongated, and the 

 upper tail coverts and tail are grey, the same colour as the back. 

 The primaries are more broadly marked underneath next the shafts 

 with grey, and the tarsus is rather longer." 



Doderlein (op. cit.) says of this bird: — "This African species of 

 Tern, affiliated to the Sandwich, is characterised by its yellow beak. 

 It is met with accidentally, according to Malherbe, along the coast of 

 Sicily. He notices having seen a specimen in 1870 near Syracuse. 

 Schlegel also mentions that an individual in breeding plumage was 

 killed in Sicily, and preserved in the collection of Leida. Any how it 



