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CHAPTER XXIII. 
SEA SWALLOWS — THE CASPIAN, RUPPELL's, SANDWICH, COMMON, 
ARCTIC, ROSEATE, AND LITTLE TERNS THE BLACK, WHITE- 
WINGED, AND WHISKERED MARSH TERNS — THE GULL-BILLED 
TERN THE NODDY. 
THE birds of the family Sternince^ including Terns and 
other species, are often called Sea Swallows, on account 
of their slender elongated forms, long pointed wings, and 
peculiarly buoyant, bounding, and gliding mode of flight. 
They are smaller than the Gulls, with which they have 
close affinity, being very similar in form, colouring, and 
habits. They feed on small fishes and Crustacea, seeking 
their food chiefly along the shores of the ocean ; some, how- 
ever, subsist on insects, which they obtain in fresh water. 
They nestle on the ground, sometimes in bushes, laying 
from two to four spotted eggs. The young are covered 
with down and soon walk, but generally remain about their 
birthplace until able to fly. Five genera have representa- 
tions in the British fauna, including twelve species. 
The Caspian Tern (^Sylochelidon Caspia). — This is the 
largest European species of the Tern family, measuring about 
twenty inches in length. On account of its comparatively 
large bill, it has been assumed to be more rapacious than 
others of its family, and referred to a separate genus, called 
Syloclielidon^ the term meaning Swallow of Prey. But few 
specimens of this bird, which has the hind part of the head 
black, wing-coverts bluish grey, quills greyish brown, and 
rest of the plumage white, have been obtained in England. 
It is said to inhabit the Caspian Sea, the Grecian Archi- 
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