THE WHISKERED TERN. 
299 
Colour. Head (above that portion which is in a line with the upper mandible) 
and nape jet black, as in S. hirundo ; sides of head for ~ inch from the bill, having a 
stripe of pure white. From the upper part of the breast to the vent (entire under 
surface) blackish-grey. Yent-feathers and under surface of the tail, whitish. Upper 
surface of wings and tail, dark grey, but lighter than the under surface ; shoulder or 
ridge of wing on the upper surface, white. 
Bill and legs have faded to a pale yellowish horn-colour. 
In the 2nd edition of Yarreli’s work, published in 1845, one 
individual only was recorded as obtained in Great Britain; — near 
Lyme, Dorsetshire, at the end of August 1836 — but another has 
since been procured, of which we have the following account : — 
“ An example of the whiskered tern * * * was shot on 
the 17th inst., whilst flying high over the Hickling Broad. It 
proved to be an adult female, and contained ova in an advanced 
stage ; the largest being apparently almost ready to receive the 
shell. In the stomach were found the remains of about twenty 
of the larva of the broad-bodied dragon-fly .”* 
Temminck, in 1820, f described this species as a new one, 
discovered by M. Natter er of Vienna, in the south of Hungary, 
and as having been found in the marshes of Capo d'Istria and on 
the coasts of Dalmatia; also that M. De la Motte, of Abbeville, 
had, on one occasion, seen several individuals, and killed three of 
them in a marsh on the coast of Picardy. It has since been 
ascertained to breed annually in the south of Prance. % Speci- 
mens of this bird in the British Museum are labelled “ Hydro- 
clielidon\ hybrida , India ? Hardwicke bequest,” and “ Cape Seas, 
Dr. Andrew Smith's collection.” If it be the S. hybrida of Pallas, 
this name should probably have the advantage of priority; his 
work, in which it is described, being published between 1811 and 
1831.|| 
I had the gratification, on the 30th of April, 1841, of observ- 
ing for a long time on wing, over a marsh a few miles northward 
* J. H. Gurney, Wm. R. Fisher; June 30, 1847. Contribution to the ‘Zoolo- 
gist’ for August 1847, p. 1820. 
f Manuel, 2nd edit. Part II. p. 746. 
t Degland, ‘ Ornith. Europ.’ tome ii. p. 354. 
j| Ibid. „ „ p. 353. 
§ Boie. 
