T 

 within a few yards of us, whilst others hawked about 



unconcernedly after flying insects, or dipped for the 

 leeches and water-beetles that swarmed amongst the 

 weeds. I could discover no difference between the 

 habits of this bird and those of the Black Tern, which 

 was perhaps the more numerous of the two species in 

 the locality of which 1 am treating, but there is a 

 slight difference in the note, that of the present bird 

 being somewhat harsher and more prolonged than that 

 of the other. The nests of the Whiskered Tern, how- 

 ever, were generally composed of various water-plants 

 only, and were often of considerable bulk, whilst those 

 of the Black Tern were much slighter, flatter, and 

 generally had some broken reed-stems, pieces of rushes, 

 and occasionally some twigs as a foundation. 



The eggs of the Whiskered Tern are three in com- 

 plement, and are easily to be distinguished from those 

 of any other European Tern by their elongated shape 

 and invariable pale, but decided green ground-colour. 



In Spain this Tern is a summer migrant, arriving 

 towards the end of April, and departing in July or 

 early in August; but 1 frequently met with it about 

 the shores of the Ionian Sea in late autumn and winter. 

 From the accounts of authors it appears that the range 

 of the Whiskered Tern extends from the extreme west 

 of Africa and Europe, with certain breaks of continuity, 

 to China and the Philippines. It breeds abundantly in 

 the marshes of North Africa ; but I never met with it 

 in the western basin of the Mediterranean. 



