508 
TERN. 
the windpipe. The Teal is the smallest of the duck tribe. It comes 
to us in winter, and frequents our fresh waters in small flocks. Many 
are caught in the decoys ; and some few breed with us. 
*Mr. White, in his Natural History of Selborne, mentions young 
Teal having been taken on the verge of a pond in Wolmer Forest. It 
is also said to breed in the mosses about Carlisle ; and we are informed 
they have been known to breed in confinement. 
The nest is uncommon in France, its breeding grounds being more 
towards the North. It is made of rushes, lined with down, placed 
on the side of a pond, so as to rise or fall with the water. The 
eggs are about the size of those of a pigeon, of a dirty white, spotted 
with brown. This bird, like most of the duck tribe, is subject to 
variety, which has occasioned it to be divided into two or three species, 
to one of which has been given the name of summer teal. 
TERN {^Sterna liirundo, Linn^us.) 
Sterna Hirundo, Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 606. — Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. p. 807. — Wits. Amer. 
Orn. 7.p. 76. — Flem. Br. Anim. p. 143. — L’Hirondelle de mer Pierre Garin, 
Buff. Ois. 8. p. S3l.—Ib. pi. Enl. 937.— Temm. Man. d’Orn. 2. p. 740.— Ger- 
ard. Tab. elem. 2. p. 322. — Greater Tern, Lath. Syn. 6. p. 361. — Penn. Br. 
Zool. p. 144. — Germine Meerschivalbe, Bechst. Natuig. l)eut. 4. p. 682.-- 
Hirundo Marina, Will. p. 268. — Common, or Greater Tern, Br. Zool. 2. No. 
254. t. 90. — Ib. fol. 144. t. L*. — Lath. Syn. 6. p. 361. 14. — Lewins Br. Birds, 
6. t. 204. — IPa/c. Syn. 1. 1. 119. — Don. Br. Birds, 1. t. 23 Pult. Cat. Dorset, 
p. 18. — Kamtschatkan Tern, Arct. Zool. 2. p. 525. — Phil. Trans. 62. p. 421. — 
Bewick’s Br. Birds, 2. p. 207. — Common Tern, Ib. t. p. 199. 
Provincial. — Pirr. Gull-teazer. Kirmew. Picket. Tarney, or Pictarney. 
Tarrock, or Tarret. Rittock, or Rippock. Spurre. Scraye. 
The weight of this species is about four ounces and a quarter ; 
length fourteen inches ; bill two inches and a half long ; of a crimson 
colour, black at the end, and very sharp-pointed ; irides dusky ; the top 
of the head, taking in the eyes and nape, black ; beneath the eyes, and 
from thence to the nostrils, the neck, and all the under parts, white ; 
the back and wings are ash-colour ; quills grey ; the outer ones darkest, 
shafts white ; tail much forked, and white, except the outer web of the 
exterior feather, which is black ; legs crimson ; claws black. 
Of the four species of Tern which visit this country in spring, this 
is the most plentiful. It frequents our flat, sandy, or shingly shores, 
preferring the latter ; amongst which it lays three or four eggs, without 
any nest. These are about the size of a pigeon’s, of an olivaceous 
brown, blotched and spotted with dusky. 
It is found in great abundance on part of the Sussex and Kentish 
coasts, particularly about Winchelsea, and from thence to Dungeness ; it 
is a noisy, restless bird, constantly on wing in search of insects and small 
