426 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
United States of America, from Labrador to Texas. In 
winter it can be traced down the west side of Africa to Cape 
Colony, and in Asia to India, Ceylon and the Malay Peninsula, 
while it has also been obtained in Bahia and Brazil. 
THE ARCTIC TERN. Sterna macrura, Naumann. 
Local names — Sea-Swallow ; Pirr. 
An occasional visitor off our coast. 
The Arctic Terns that are occasionally seen off our coast 
from May to September, probably come from the colony, 
which, in the neighbouring county of Kirkcudbright, shifts 
about from year to year between Southerness and Heston. 
An Arctic Tern shot at Brow Well (Ruthwell) in 1866 is 
recorded by William Hastings.* 
The species in England is known chiefly on migration, 
though there are isolated colonies in the north and west ; 
and in the northern half of Scotland it is the commonest 
of the terns. In Ireland it nests in many places, especially 
on the wind-swept islets of the west and north. Elsewhere 
it breeds in circumpolar regions, and has been met with in 
winter in antarctic seas,t so that it has a latitudinal range 
of from 82° north to 74° south, probably the most extensive 
range recorded for any one species. J 
THE LITTLE TERN. Sterna minutay Linnaeus. 
A summer- visitant off our coast. 
A Hst of birds of the parish of Kirkmichael in 1792 includes 
the " Lesser and greater Terns."§ Mr. R. Service, com- 
* Minutes of D. and G. Nat. Hist. Soc, May 1st, 1866. 
t W. Eagle Clarke, Ibis, 1907, pp. 345-347. 
t Birds of Britain, 1907, p. 356. 
§ Stat. Acct. Scot., Vol. I., p. 61. 
