GavioB 225 



The Arctic Tern has a circumpolar range, though in 

 eastern Asia a closely allied form is more abundant ; it 

 has an entirely red bill, and the outer feathers of the 

 deeply forked tail are longer than in the common species. 

 On the whole the eggs are smaller, more often green in 

 ground-colour, and occasionally fine yellowish red. 



The Little Tern {8. minuta) is much more local than 

 either of the two birds just mentioned, and almost 

 always lays its smaller eggs among shingle or in sand, 

 generally nearer the sea than its congeners. They are 

 light buff or' greenish white with grey and brown mark- 

 ings, and do not vary much ■ the note is shrill and the 

 parents are bold and restless. This Tern breeds in 

 various localities from Orkney to the extreme south of 

 England, and abroad from the Baltic to north and west 

 Africa and north India. The limits cannot, however, be 

 yet determined with certainty, as more than one similar 

 species meet our bird in Asia, and their ranges not 

 improbably overlap. The smaller size, white forehead, 

 orange feet, and yellowish orange bill with black tip 

 distinguish it at once from its British congeners. 



Subfamily Larinse, ok Gulls 

 The first Gull to be mentioned is Sabine's Gull {Xema 

 sabinii), our only fork-tailed species ; it is comparatively 

 small, has a lead-coloured head and neck, with first 

 a black and then a white collar, white tail, and under- 

 surface. Many individuals have been seen or killed 

 at various points of our coasts in the latter half of the 

 year, and the bird is known to breed in America, from 

 Greenland to Alaska and along the Arctic coasts of 

 Europe and Asia from Spitsbergen to east Siberia. 

 The appearance of individuals in summer in the Polar 



E. B. 15 



