NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BERMUDAS. 2g5 



Several of the Common Tern {Sterna hirundd) made 

 their appearance in Hamilton Harbour this morning, 

 flying about close to the wharves and shipping. During 

 a fourteen years' residence in Hamilton this is the first 

 and only time this bird has been seen in its waters by 

 myself, though I have reason to believe that, during the 

 gale of the 22nd instant, a similar visitation occurred. 

 The natives invariably call them " Gulls" 



October ^oth. — Visited the Barracks at Ireland Island 

 yesterday, and had an opportunity of seeing Captain 

 Tolcher's collection of bird skins. Two of these appeared 

 to be new to me, and, with the Captain's permission, I 

 brought them away for examination. One of them (the 

 supposed " Sooty Tern," mentioned on the 14th of Sep- 

 tember last) proved to be Sterna stolida, the Noddy Tern 

 of Audubon, a bird new to our ornithology. It measured 

 fourteen inches in length. Legs and feet, dull sooty 

 brown. Nails, black. Bill, black, and rather more than one 

 inch in length from forehead. Wings, long and pointed. 

 Second primary somewhat longer than the first. Shafts 

 of primaries, white on the under side. Tail, of twelve 

 feathers, forked, and three and four-tenths inches shorter 

 than the closed wings, each feather increasing in length 

 from the centre or fork. Forehead and region of the 

 eye, black; remainder of upper parts, dark sooty brown, 

 finely marked with transverse bars of dull white. Wing 

 coverts, more boldly marked with white, the axillaries in 

 particular ; the white being invariably at the extremity 

 of each feather. Some of the tail feathers also tipped 

 with dull white. Under parts, dull sooty brown through- 

 out. I consider this to be a young bird of the present 

 year. 



