328 



Ad. ptil. Mem. fronte albida : pileo et nucha nigris, collo postico albo : corpore supra pallide plumbescenti- 

 cinereo : alis et cauda ut in ptilosi sestivali, sed pallidioribus : gula, gutture et corpore subtus albis. 



Juv. prsecedenti similis, sed corpore supra pallide brunneo tincto, plumis versus apicem pallide brunneo notatis : 

 pectore lateraliter nigricante notato. 



Adult Male in summer (Barcelona, 4th May). Crown, nape, and hind neck glossy black; entire upper parts 

 dark blue-grey with a leaden tinge, the quills darker, nearly blackish on the inner web and in the first 

 quill on the outer web also ; tail short, moderately forked, coloured like the back ; throat, sides of the 

 head and underparts generally to the vent sooty black with a leaden tinge ; under tail-coverts pure white ; 

 under wing-coverts white with a faint greyish tinge ; beak purplish black ; iris dark brown ; legs blackish 

 brown with a purplish tinge. Total length about 9 inches, culmen 13, wing 8"0, tail 3'25, tarsus O6o. 



Adult Female (Jutland) . "[Indistinguishable from the male in plumage. 



Young (Pagham, Sussex) . Forehead dull white ; a patch in front of the eye, crown, and nape black ; hind 

 neck white; upper parts dull ashy with a brownish tinge, the feathers being washed with dull light 

 brown towards the tips ; fore part of the back nearly black ; wings and tail as in the adult, but rather 

 duller; underparts white, the sides of the breast marked with dull blackish. 



Adult in winter. Resembles the bird last described, but has the upper parts clearer grey and not marked 

 with brown, and the dark markings on the sides of the breast are wanting. 



Young in down (Jutland) . Closely resembles the young in down of H. leucoptera, but has the throat marked 

 with sooty blackish, and the sides of the face are not quite so light in colour. 



The present species inhabits Europe generally as far north as Scandinavia, ranging as far east in 

 Asia as Turkestan, and occurring tolerably far south in Africa in winter. In America, where it 

 is also found, it ranges from Canada down to Chili and Peru. 



In Great Britain the present species is now only known as a somewhat rare straggler ; and, 

 so far as I can ascertain, it has ceased to breed in the United Kingdom. It occurs, however, on 

 most parts of the coast during the seasons of passage. I have seen many specimens obtained on 

 the coasts of Kent and Sussex ; and it has been met with all along the south coast. Mr. Mansel 

 Pleydell says that, according to Mr. Thompson, several have been killed on Lodmoor, in Dorset- 

 shire. The Rev. J. H. Austen procured one at Ensbury in July 1839, and Mr. Pike another in 

 Poole harbour in the winter of 1872-73. Mr. Cecil Smith says that it is an occasional spring 

 and autumn visitant in Somersetshire, and is occasionally found in considerable numbers. They 

 generally make their appearance about the middle of April, in the marsh or on the river, some- 

 times as high up as Taunton, and are then in full breeding-plumage. On their return in the 

 autumn they usually come about the middle of August in small flocks consisting of both old and 

 young birds, the former of which are commencing to assume their winter livery. In the spring 

 they are found along the banks of the rivers and in the marsh, whereas in the autumn they 

 frequent the coast. It used formerly to breed in Kent and in Norfolk; and as regards its 

 occurrence in the latter county, Mr. Stevenson writes to me as follows : — " The Black Tern, 

 which at the commencement of the present century bred by hundreds in the Broad- and Fen- 

 districts of Norfolk, is known now only as a passing migrant, appearing pretty regularly, but in 



