198 
British Birds. 
THE SANDWICH 
TERN. 
( Sterna cantiaca.) 
I.-- v 
THE SMALLER 
SOOTY TERN. 
(Sterna ancesthcta.) 
reception of its eggs, which are only two in number; they are a little larger than 
those of the Common Tern, and measure from an inch-and-a-half to an inch- 
and -seven -eighths. 
The present species is larger than the other species of Sterna , 
and is recognised by its black feet and bill, the latter having a 
yellow tip. The head is crested, the feathers being pointed and 
so forming a crest. The Sandwich Tern is a summer visitor to 
Great Britain, and still breeds in a few places where it is protected, but many of its 
old nesting-haunts are no longer frequented. It breeds throughout Southern Europe 
and the Caspian Sea, as well as in Eastern North America. In winter it is found 
along the African coasts and those of the Indian Ocean, as well as oft' Central 
America. The nest is a depression in the sand, and is sometimes lined with 
bents. The eggs are two, seldom three, in number, clay-coloured, and generally 
boldly blotched with black. The}' measure two to two-and-a-half inches in length, 
The upper 
surface in this 
species is sooty 
black, with a 
white forehead and a black streak 
through the lores ; the mantle is 
somewhat more grey than the 
head or back. The young birds 
are quite different from those of 
other Terns, being of an uniform 
sooty colour with white or rufous 
tips to the feathers. The species 
inhabits the seas of the Tropics on both sides of the Atlantic, and is found also in 
the Indian and Pacific Oceans. One specimen is said to have been caught at the 
mouth of the Thames in September, 1875. This Tern lays its single egg in the 
fissure of a rock or in holes of the coral sandstone. 
This Tern is exactly like the foregoing, but is a larger bird, 
and has the web of the foot more fully developed and not so 
much excised as in that species. It is generally distributed over 
the southern oceans, and has occurred in England on three 
occasions. It nests in enormous numbers on Ascension Island 
and on other islands such as Laysan and also on the islands of Torres’ Straits. 
The single egg is laid on the sand or among the fissures of volcanic or coral rocks. 
The small size and the yellow bill, tipped with black, serve 
to distinguish the Little Tern from its allies. It nests throughout 
the greater part of Europe and Central Asia, and is found along the 
coasts of the African and Indian Oceans in winter. It breeds in 
The Smaller Sooty Tern. 
THE 
SOOTY TERN. 
(Sterna fuliginosa.) 
Sec p. 193. 
THE 
LITTLE TERN. 
(Sterna minuta.) 
