998 HYDROCIIELIDON HYBRIDA. 



South Wales on the Namoi and Mokai rivers, and on the Swan river in Western Australia, while in the 

 interior it was observed by Sturt. Mr. Ramsay records it further from Cape York, Rockingham Bay, Wide 

 Bay, Victoria, and South Australia. 



Returning now from this sketch of its distribution in a south-easterly direction to the consideration of 

 its locale in India, I find that it is chiefly a cool-weather visitant to Southern and Central Iudia. In the 

 Deccan Mr. Davidson observed a few individuals only in the rainy season ; and further north, in Guzerat, it 

 is not found, according to Captain Butler, in the hot weather ; on the eastern side of the peninsula, in the 

 same latitude, it is a cold-weather bird about Calcutta and in Furrecdpore ; and though I find it recorded 

 from Manbhum, Orissa, and Raipur, and spoken of by Mr. Ball as common on the river Koel, no mention 

 is made of its breeding in those districts. In the North-west Provinces, Oudh, parts of the Punjaub, and in 

 Cashmere it breeds not uncommonly, the Woolar Lake in the latter province being a great nesting-resort of 

 the species. It is common in Sindh and at the Sarnbhur Lake, and in the former Mr. Hume was informed 

 that it bred. Eastward of the Bay it docs not seem to be generally diffused, as it is only recorded from the 

 district between the Salween and the Sittang rivers in Tenasserim. It appears to avoid the highlands of 

 Central Asia, but not the lower-lying Mongolian region, where Prjevalsky found it hreeding abundantly on 

 the Tsaidemin-nor lake. Although found as far north as these regions, it does not range into Siberia, and 

 Schrenck did not observe it on the Amoor. In Palestine it is abundant, according to Canon Tristram, on the 

 Sea of Galilee, and retires in the breeding-season to the marshes of Huleh to nest. In the spring it is found 

 on the shores of the Mediterranean and on the islands, being recorded from Malta as late as the month of 

 May. It inhabits the southern and central portions of Europe as far north as Germany in the summer, 

 breeding in Greece, in Southern Russia, on the Caspian and the Volga, in Hungary (presumably, having been 

 obtained there in June), and on the marismas of Southern Spain ; it arrives on passage north in the Gibraltar 

 district about the middle of April {Irby) , aud nests in Andalucia in May. It is an accidental visitor to 

 North Germany aud the north of France, and has occasionally been found in England. It does not occur 

 in the Baltic. 



It does not extend to America; but there is a specimen in the British Museum from Barbadoes, presented 

 by Sir Robert Schomburgk, whither it had evidently wandered as a very isolated straggler. In Africa it is 

 abundant in wiuter in parts of Morocco, in Egypt, and in Nubia, and ascends the Nile into Abyssinia. It 

 breeds iu great numbers, according to Faviei - , at Ras Dowra, in Morocco. It is found also in Egypt and Nubia 

 throughout the year ; and Von Hcuglin is of opinion that it breeds in the country. We have no record of its 

 wandering past the equator on the cast coast ; but it is found on the western side of the continent ; aud as it 

 is very abundant in Damara Land in winter, its course of migration is evidently by way of the west coast. 



Habits. — This Marsh-Tern, which is the fiuest of its genus, is a bird of fearless disposition and bouyant 

 and graceful, though not swift, flight, and frequents fresh waters more than the sea-coast, although it is 

 partial to brackish lagoons, shallow salt lakes, and estuaries of large rivers. In Ceylon it is the only Tern 

 seen in the paddy-fields; and as it is of a gregarious nature, large flocks collect there in the autumn while 

 the laud is being ploughed, and sometimes follow the natives while they are working, picking up water-beetles 

 and other aquatic insects which become exposed by the upturning of the slushy soil. They are to be seen 

 throughout the season careering round and round the Colombo Lake, and flying most perseveringly to and fro, 

 traversing many miles in their course without ever dipping into the water ; and when tired of conducting a 

 fruitless search, will fly oft' again or settle perhaps on the telegraph-wires crossing the lake or the Lotus-pond, 

 and rest there in company with Swallows, occasionally starting off on a fresh cruise in pursuit of the gnats 

 and insects which infest the latter spot. They frequently perch on fences and stakes in the paddy-fields. 

 Their flight is generally low, about 20 feet from the water; and when they descend upon their prey they do 

 not pounce, but, dashing down, they expand their wings, and " dip up " the fish which they have espied from 

 above. At Hambantota I have seen them hovering for an instant over the eggs of the Little Tern, and was 

 inclined to believe that they had eggs themselves ; but the individuals I saw so doing were in winter plumage. 

 They do not rest upon rocks, but are often to be seen in little troops reposing on the sandy beach. At nights 

 they resort to beds of reeds or bushes in swamps to roost ; and when flying off to their feeding-grounds in the 

 morning they proceed in closely-packed little troops straight-on-end ; and if crossing an arm of the sea or 



