1J0 TERN. 



autumn, and is called there Mackarel Gull; observed to lay the 

 eggs in small hollows on the shore, sometimes lined with a few 

 leaves; often found in great numbers on the islets, in the middle of 

 the rivers, and is thought to be good eating. Is a bold bird, and 

 like the rest of the Genus, not fearing mankind. In the time of 

 incubation will attack any one ; frequently darting down, so as to 

 touch a person's hat, without his having given offence. 



I remarked a bird, apparently of this species, in the drawings of 

 Sir J. Anstruther, from India, which differs in having the whole of 

 the tail feathers grey, like the quills. Said to be common on the 

 Banks of the Ganges. Also a similar one in some drawings from 

 New-Holland. 



21. -ARCTIC TERN. 



Sterna arctica, Tern. Man. Ed. 2d. 742. Franklin's Narr. App. p. 694. Parry's 

 App. p. ccii. 



LENGTH thirteen inches and a half. Bill fine red ; the irides 

 brown ; the crown and nape deep black ; beneath the eye a streak of 

 white; the rest of the upper parts of the plumage much as in the 

 Common Species, but of a deeper ash-colour; the throat, and neck 

 before darker than the back ; a small part of the belly and under 

 tail coverts white; tail greatly forked, as in the Common One, but 

 a trifie longer; legs fine red ; the middle claw much longer than the 

 others, and curved laterally outwards. 



This is found within the Arctic Circle; common in the Orknies, 

 and on the Coasts of Scotland and England ; likewise on the Baltic 

 shores: is easy to be confounded with the Common Tern, but does 

 not appear so far southward as that bird. 



I received one of these, shot in August, near Sandwich. In this 

 the crown was mottled with white, and some of the feathers, at the 

 back of the neck, tipped with brown ; the tail white, with the outer 



