290 



Adult Female (Dobrudscha) . Undistinguishable from the male in plumage, but, if any thing, a trifle less 

 in size. 



Adult in winter (Albania, November). Differs from the summer plumage in having the mantle rather 

 darker; and the black cap is wanting, the forehead being white, and the rest of the crown and sides of 

 the head white, closely striped with black, the markings being collected before the eye in a blackish 

 patch, and on the cheeks and ear-coverts in one intermixed with greyish ; bill lighter and yellower than 

 in the summer, and more black at the tip. 



Young {fide Naumann). Crown and nape white, closely striped with black, and slightly marked with 

 brownish white on the forehead, sides of the head, and nape ; upper parts light French grey, the 

 feathers edged with yellowish white, and barred with a zigzag cross bar ; rest of the plumage as in the 

 adult ; bill reddish yellow, towards the tip blackish brown. 



- 

 Ranging from Northern Finland down to South Africa, and frequenting the coasts of Asia and 

 the islands down to New Zealand, the Caspian Tern is also found in the Nearctic Region from 

 the shores of Labrador down to New Jersey, and has, therefore, a very extensive range. It does 

 not, like many of its allies, breed in northern latitudes, and pass southward for the winter, but 

 it has been found nesting from the top of the Gulf of Bothnia down to New Zealand. 



With us in Great Britain it is only known as a rare straggler on the east and south coasts 

 of England, and it has not been recorded from Scotland or Ireland. Yarrell mentions the 

 following occurrences, viz. : — one near Yarmouth, October 1825; one, Caister; three or four 

 seen at Aldborough, in Suffolk, and one shot; one, Norfolk, 1839; one, Norfolk (Breydon 

 Harbour), June 1849 ; one, Norfolk, August 1851 ; one, Lincolnshire, 1853. To these Mr. J. E. 

 Harting adds (Handb. Brit. B. p. 167) the following, viz. : — one, Breydon Harbour, Yarmouth, 

 June 1850, and one from the same locality, July 16th, 1850; one, Yarmouth, May 1862; and 

 one, Christchurch, Hants. Mr. Mansel-Pleydell also states (Orn. & Conch. Dors. p. 52) that two 

 were shot in Weymouth backwater, in the autumn of 1848, by a man named Gillingham, and 

 one was killed in the Wareham river in July 1872. 



It is not known with certainty to have occurred in Norway, the only record I can find being 

 that given by Mr. Coilett, who says that a single specimen was seen in the Hvaloer by Mr. 

 Schubeler, a parish priest, in August 1839. On the Swedish coast it is met with from Tornea 

 down to Bohuslan, and is found in the latter parts from the end of May to the end of August, 

 but is not common. Nilsson says that, according to Lundborg, a pair or two breed in the outer 

 islands off Ostgothland ; and Wallengren states that it nests on the Carlsoer and outside Slito 

 Harbour. On the Finnish side it is found from Tornea downwards, but nowhere common. I 

 found it breeding off Uleaborg, and saw several pairs on the islands near that town ; and 

 Dr. Palmen says (Finl. Fogl. ii. p. 567) that a few pairs breed annually off Helsingfors, and it 

 has been seen at Sundo, off Borga. It also occurs in the Kyrkslatt and Esbo parishes. On the 

 south-western portion of the coast it is seldom found beyond Skiftet ; but a few pairs breed on 



o 



Aland and Klafskar. It does not appear to have been met with on the northern coasts of 

 Russia, but is occasionally found on the shores of the Baltic provinces ; and Borggreve says that it 

 has become very rare on the coast of Prussia, and it is very rarely met with in the interior of Ger- 

 many. It is, however, more frequently found in Denmark ; and there, according to Kjserbolling, 



