The Gull-Billed Tern. I9 



bird." The species, "from the shape of the bill" [in which the angle at the 

 union of the two halves of the mandible is prominent], continues Montagu, " is 

 denominated Gull-billed Tern, a prominent character of distinction between the 

 two ; and as it has originated in England we have added the more scientific 

 name of Sterna anglica." 



As a matter of accuracy, however, this Tern was first discovered by the 

 naturalist Hasselqvist, on the banks of the Nile during his travels in Egypt. 



" One specimen of this species," observes Montagu, in his original account 

 of it, " we shot in Sussex, and have known others to have been killed about Rye." 

 Since then nearly a score of individuals have been shot in England, chiefly in 

 spring and autumn — the majority of them in Norfolk. No specimens have as yet 

 been recorded from Scotland or from Ireland. 



Of these visitors to our shores, one dropped a fully formed e.gg when shot, 

 another had well developed eggs in its ovary on dissection, and a third was in 

 full breeding plumage, so that it is not improbable that it may yet be found 

 breeding in this country. 



This species, which is much more a Sea- than a River- or Marsh-Tern, breeds 

 in most parts of the temperate regions of both hemispheres. In the eastern 

 hemisphere it is found in summer all over Europe below 55 N. latitude; but 

 breeding only in Denmark and on both coasts of the Mediterranean (of Italy 

 excepted) and the Black Seas. Elsewhere in Europe the Gull-billed Tern is a 

 visitor just as it is in England. The individuals so summering, migrate to 

 Northern Africa in winter. It breeds over temperate Asia and the south of China, 

 whence in winter it spreads through India, Ceylon and Burmah to the Indian 

 Archipelago and to Australia, where it has also been observed breeding. In the 

 western hemisphere it occurs down on the eastern coasts as far as the south of 

 the Argentine Republic ; but only on the coast of Guatemala on the western side 

 of the hemisphere. 



The Gull-billed Tern differs somewhat in its places of resort from the Marsh- 

 Terns, preferring the estuaries of rivers, sandy shores of the coasts, and salt 

 lagoons, to inland fresh-water swamps and lakes- — although it does frequent them 

 also. The receptacle for its eggs is hardly a nest, but generally merely a hollow 

 scratched in the sand or dry mud, with occasionally a few shreds of vegetable 

 material laid in. Like other Terns, this species also builds in large colonies. 

 " Two is the usual number of eggs, ' says the late Mr. Seebohm, from observations 

 made by himself in a lagoon in Asia Minor, "and I have frequently found three 

 but never four. The eggs of this bird are by no means so handsome as those of 

 Sterna cantiaca, nor are they on the average quite as large. A usual sized egg 



