292 LARID.15. 



the sea,^ or at other fresh-water lakes in Scotland^ be tlie S. 

 hiTundo, as it, alone, have I fonnd selecting for its nest such 

 places in Ireland. 



In the year 1826, at the end of May, I saw the S. hirundo 

 commonly in the fens of Holland, and towards the end of July 

 about the lagunes of Venice. In 1841, when descending the 

 Rhone from Lyons to Avignon, on the 9th of April, I remarked 

 some terns, most probably of this species, at the wildest parts of 

 the river where bordered by extensive sandy tracts; and when 

 proceeding by water from Constantinople to the Valley of Sweet 

 Waters, on the 14th of May, several birds of this genus which 

 appeared, resembled the S. hirundo. Towards the evening of the 

 21st, a number of terns, similar to this species, were observed 

 flying in company to a little rocky islet — very like a breeding-haunt 

 — off the north-east side of the beautiful island of Mytilene ; and 

 in a locality of the same nature near the island of Paros, I saw 

 a couple, apparently of the 8. hirundo, about ten days afterwards. 

 I mention those seen in the south-east of Europe with some 

 doubt, as none of them were obtained for examination. Eecent 

 authors, so far as I have referred to them, with the exception of 

 Capt. Drnmmond, do not positively state that the 8. Jiirundo is 

 found there, though the 8terna affinis is so.f 



On the 13th of July I remarked this species on the Lake of 

 Constance, and on the 15th and 16th, when proceeding down the 

 Ehine from Basle ; — at the wild desert-like sandy banks of the 

 river not far from that city, were numbers, both of 8. miniita and 

 8. hirundo : such of the latter as came near were adult, and the 

 manoeuvres of both species satisfied me that they breed in marshes 

 at the river side. Thence to Cologne they appeared occasionally, 

 and dashed down from a height into the muddy Ehine, in which 

 human vision was unable to detect any object, just as they do 

 into the clear pure sea. J 



* St. John ; ' "Wild Sports,' &c., chap. sxv. p. 201. * 



t Captain Drummond states that S. hirundo is common at Corfu in spring, and 

 one specimen was obtained by him in the island of Crete, on the 18th of June. — 

 ' Ann. Nat. Hist.' vol. xii. pp. 422, 427. 



\ Tui-nuig to the fiue old work of Willughby, after the above was written, I find 



