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form of the Black Tern has been separated specifically under the name of Hydroehelidon plurnbea ; 

 but, after a careful examination of a series of examples from Europe and America, I cannot find 

 any valid reason to make two species. It is true that, as a rule, the American bird has the 

 underparts blacker than in our European bird ; but there is great variation in this respect. 

 The palest specimens are certainly those from Northern Europe ; and I possess examples from 

 Denmark which have only the head black, the underparts being dark sooty plumbeous ; but on 

 the other hand, specimens from Spain are much blacker, and I possess two from there which are 

 quite as dark as average American birds ; and these last also are subject to some variation in shade 

 of colour, though I have never seen any as light as the Danish specimens in my collection, and 

 in general they are nearly as black on the underparts as Hydroehelidon leucoptera. 



The Black Tern has been recorded from Canada, where it appears to be common, and through- 

 out the whole of the United States. My brother found it exceedingly numerous during the breed- 

 ing-season on Lake Ontario ; and it is recorded from New York, Massachusetts, and other States 

 in Eastern North America. Mr. A. C. Stark informs me, the present species " breeds commonly 

 in many parts of Wisconsin, and very abundantly in the prairie districts of Western Minnesota, 

 being especially numerous in summer on the numerous small lakes and ponds between the Otter- 

 tail and Bois-de-Sioux rivers. Here they commence nesting about the last week in May, and 

 lay generally two, seldom three, eggs. I nearly always found them nesting in company with the 

 Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus icterocephalus), both species showing a preference for 

 lakes in sheltered hollows that are partially overgrown with tall reeds. The growing reeds were 

 sometimes completely filled with the nests of the Yellow-heads, and the floating masses of fallen 

 reed covered equally thickly with those of the Terns. Not unfrequently I have found the Black 

 Terns' nests on the top of deserted houses of the musk-rat. Once I found them mixed up with 

 those of a large White Tern that I did not identify, probably St.forsteriV Mr. H. M. Labouchere 

 also writes to me that he observed it in lai'ge numbers in the mai'shy prairies of Northern 

 Minnesota, where they breed amongst the wild rice bordering the lakes ; in those parts where 

 the land was being brought under cultivation he saw flocks of hundreds of individuals following 

 the plough, and darting down on the worms and grubs exposed as the furrows were turned up. 

 When at Matamoras, on the Bio Grande, I found the present species common on the lagoon 

 near that town during the summer ; and it certainly breeds near there. I had also a specimen 

 sent to me from Fort Stockton, in Texas, and one from the city of Mexico. Dr. Gundlach states 

 that it occurs in Cuba ; and both Dr. Coues and Mr. Salvin record it from Honduras. On the 

 west side of the continent it was found by Mr. Dall in Alaska, and breeds on the marshes near 

 Fort Yukon. It is said to be common on the coasts of California. Grayson met with it at 

 Mazatlan ; and it ranges as far south as Peru and Chili in the winter season. 



Unless subjected to persecution, the Black Tern is an exceedingly tame and confiding bird. 

 I have often watched it hovering in the air over a piece of water, not ten feet distant from me ; 

 and they would perch on the stakes driven in at a little distance from the shore, and sit there 

 preening their feathers or resting, quite undisturbed by my close proximity. When it has eggs 

 or young it is much more fearless than at any other season, and both the male and the female 

 will fly round the head of an intruder so closely that they may almost be caught with the hand. 

 On the wing the present species, like its allies, is extremely graceful, and appears almost as 



