322 



coverts much lighter, indeed almost white, and may be distinguished also by its longer tarsus and foot, 

 as well as by its stouter bill. 



Young (Volga, August). Posterior portion of the crown, a patch on the side of the head, and one on the 

 hind neck dark sooty grey, the feathers with lighter margins, the patch on the hind neck with 

 brownish markings; rest of the head, neck, and entire underparts pure white; back and scapulars 

 blue-grey, broadly tipped with blackish grey ; wings as in the adult in winter, but the wing-coverts 

 tipped with light reddish brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts white ; tail light French grey, becoming 

 darker towards the tip. 



Nestling in down (Volga, July). Upper parts warm reddish buff, boldly marked with black on the crown, 

 nape, back, wings, and rump ; underparts greyish buff with a sooty tinge, marked with sooty grey on 

 the upper throat; space round the eye nearly white. 



The range of this Tern is extremely wide ; for in Europe, though it is met with chiefly in the 

 southern countries, yet it straggles as far north as Great Britain and Scandinavia. In Asia it is 

 found as far east as China, and southward to Australia and New Zealand ; and it has even been 

 recorded from North America. 



In England it is only known as a rare straggler, and has not, so far as I can ascertain, been 

 known to breed with us. Almost all the occurrences I find recorded have taken place on the 

 east coast of England, chiefly in Norfolk. Mr. Stevenson informs me that one, which was 

 obtained at Horsey Mere, Norfolk, on the 17th May, 1853, is in the collection of Mr. Rising; 

 Mr. Gould states in his ' Birds of Great Britain ' that two were obtained at Coventry in June 

 1857; Mr. Stevenson possesses one which was obtained at Hickling Broad on the 27th June, 

 1867; and Mr. Howard Saunders says that Mr. Westlake, of Ilfracombe, possesses one which 

 was obtained in the harbour of that town on the 2nd or 3rd November, 1870. I may also add 

 that Mr. Booth, of Brighton, has shown me four examples shot by him at Breydon, in May 

 1871, and six shot at Hickling Broad, in May 1873, when, he informs me, he saw many others, 

 and could have shot more had he wished to do so. 



It does not appear ever to have been obtained in Scotland ; but Thompson records two 

 instances of its occurrence in Ireland — one on the Liffey, near Pigeon-house Fort, Dublin Bay, 

 in October 1841, and a second killed at the same place, but the date of capture is not given. 



In Northern Europe it is, generally speaking, a rare bird, only met with here and there 

 at rare intervals. It does not appear to have been met with in Norway, but has occurred in 

 Sweden, where, Nilsson states (Skand. Faun. Fogl. ii. p. 324), that it has only once been 

 obtained in Sweden, near Lund, where a male was shot at Getinge-a on the 1st June, 1835. 

 It has not been met with in Finland ; nor have I any data from Mr. Sabanaeff respecting its 

 occurrence in Central Bussia. Borggreve writes that he knows only of two occurrences in 

 North Germany, one at the Hiddensee and one in Saxony ; but Naumann writes (Vog. Deutschl. 

 x. p. 222) that it is " rare in Silesia, but has been now and then met with in Lausitz, and has 

 even reached Pomerania. At Ahlsdorf, near Herzberg in Saxony, Herr B. von Seyffertitz has 

 oh several occasions seen and killed single birds, and in 1832 as many as five individuals, in 

 company with Black Terns." Mr. Jackel states (J. f. O. 1860, p. 300) that he has found it 

 breeding near Hochstadt in Oberfranken. It is included as occurring in Denmark by Professor 



