318 



Favier says that " it is scarce near Tangier, and seen only on passage during April, returning 

 south in August. Immense numbers are found breeding at the lakes of Ras Dowra." I find 

 but scanty records of its occurrence on the west coast of Africa. Mr. Andersson says (B. of 

 Damara L. p. 362) that he " obtained a specimen of this Tem at Ondonga on the 6th February. 

 It was circling for some time round a vley in company with another ; these and another seen on 

 the Great Flat a few days since are the only individuals I have yet met with." Mr. E. L. Layard 

 does not record it from the Cape colony; but Mr. Howard Saunders (P. Z. S. 1876, p. 641) says 

 that it occurs abundantly in South Africa in winter. 



To the eastward the present species is found as far as Formosa. De Filippi found it in 

 great abundance at Enzeli, on the Caspian; and Mr. Blanford says that it probably inhabits 

 Persia, but neither he nor Major St. John obtained it there. 



Mr. A. O. Hume says that he met with it occasionally on the inland lakes of Sindh, but 

 that it was nowhere numerous. He was, however, assured by the fishermen that it breeds there. 

 Dr. Henderson writes (Lahore to Yarkand, p. 301) that it " was very common in Kashmir in 

 June. The birds were breeding, and many nests were taken, in a marsh close to Srinagar, about 

 a mile from the Visitors' Reach, and on the opposite side of the river. The nests were made of 

 green rushes, placed in amongst rushes, reeds, and floating weeds, and were very scanty." Dr. 

 Jerdon states (B. of India, ii. p. 837) that it is " exceedingly abundant in India, frequenting 

 marshes, tanks, and rivers, usually preying on aquatic food, not unfrequently hunting over fields, 

 beds of reeds, and marshy ground, where it captures grasshoppers, caterpillars, and other insects. 

 During the night, in some parts of the country, it roosts on thick beds of reeds, congregating in 

 vast numbers. Mr. Holdsworth met with it in Ceylon, where it is common, and, he believes, 

 resident; and Lieut. W. Vincent Legge remarks (Ibis, 1875, p. 408) that it leaves the' west 

 coast during the S.W. monsoon, as far as his experience goes, entirely; and he is therefore of 

 opinion that it breeds on the south-east coast. Mr. Blyth records it from Arakan and Tenasserim ; 

 Dr. Dybowski says that it is common in Dauria ; and Mr. Swinhoe records it as not uncommon 

 on the marshy lands of S.W. Formosa, but adds that he has not observed it in China, though it 

 doubtless occurs there. It is found throughout the Malay region down to Australia. Lord 

 Tweeddale received a specimen from Dr. Meyer, obtained by him at Luzon in February ; and 

 Von Martens states (J. f. O. 1866, p. 30) that he found a Tern very abundant on the Passig 

 river and in the Bay of Manilla, which he identifies with E. fluviatilis, Gould, and which is 

 therefore, in all probability, referable to the present species. Mr. Gould writes (Handb. B. 

 Austr. ii. p. 406) : — " Wherever lagoons of any extent have been discovered in the interior of 

 Australia the present species has been found enlivening the scene. I frequently observed it in 

 the reaches of the rivers Mokai and Namoi ; and both Sturt and Hume mention it as frequenting 

 many parts of the country visited by them ; I have also seen specimens from Swan River ; it is 

 evident, therefore, that it has a wide range of habitat." 



The Whiskered Tern does not inhabit the Nearctic or Neotropical Regions. There is a 

 specimen in the British Museum marked as obtained at Barbadoes ; but I cannot but think that 

 there is an error as regards the locality whence it came. 



In habits the Whiskered Tern much resembles its allies the White-winged and Black Terns ; 

 and, like these, it frequents the marshes and inland sheets of water in preference to the sea-coast, 



