ROSEATE TERN. 
275 
The Roseate Tern, Sterna Dotjgallii, Mon- 
tagu. — Hirondelle da mer Dougal, Temm. • — The 
Roseate Tern of British authors . — This is perhaps 
the most elegantly formed of all those elegant birds, 
and is far from being uncommon, but the close resem- 
blance of species being only more looked into lately, 
it remained for a considerable period undistin- 
guished ; Mr. Selby, however, seems to think that 
it was not always so plentiful as at present on the 
Farn Islands, and recollects the period when the 
light-keeper intimated to him its appearance as a 
distinct species. In distribution this tern does not 
seem very widely spread, Mr. Yafrell has only 
given us a few stations southward of a line be- 
tween Cumberland and Northumberland. On the 
Farn Islands “ it breeds on the outskirts of the 
station occupied by the arctic tem,” as stated by 
Mr. Selby; and when we last visited those islands 
in that gentleman’s company, was in considerable 
abundance. When intruding on the nest, it showed 
great anxiety, approaching so near that we knocked 
one or two down with a fishing-rod used by the 
keeper for catching white fish from the rocks. All 
the terns are very light, the body being compa- 
ratively small, and the expanse of wings and tail 
so buoys them up, that when shot in the air they 
are sustained, their wings fold above them, and 
they whirl gently down like a shuttlecock. This 
bird is remarkably buoyant, and we could almost 
run below and catch the specimen in our hat before 
