CASPIAN TERN. 
71 
NATATORES. 
STERNIDjE. 
PLATE CCLXXXTX. 
CASPIAN TERN. 
STERNA CASPIA. 
The Caspian Tern is a rare occasional visitant in Great 
Britain ; the only recorded specimens having been taken 
on the coast of Suffolk, in the vicinity of Yarmouth and 
Aldborough. The greater numbers of this species are found 
upon the borders and isles of the Caspian Sea, from whence it 
derives its name ; from thence it extends over many parts 
of Asia, India, and China, and even to the Sandwich and 
Friendly Islands: it also visits the Black Sea, and the 
Grecian Archipelago. In Egypt this bird is also met with. 
The Caspian Tern is not found to frequent any southern or 
western shore of Europe, except accidentally; and on the 
coasts of Holland and Prance it is hardly more frequent 
than on our own; in some spots on the southern Swedish 
coast it occurs in numbers, as well as on many parts of 
Denmark, and the Danish Isles, during the summer months. 
On the Island of Sylt, from two to three hundred pairs breed 
annually, among myriads of other sea-birds ; but in conse¬ 
quence of the increasing inroads of the sea upon the 
VOL. VII. 
H 
