998 
HYDROCHELIDON HYBRIDA. 
South Wales on the Namoi and Mokai rivers, and on the Swan river in Western Australia, while in the 
interior it was observed by Sturt. Mr. Ramsay records it further from Cape York, Rockingham Bay, Wide 
Bay, Victoria, and South Australia. 
Returning now from this sketch of its distribution in a south-easterly direction to the consideration of 
its locale in India, I find that it is chiefly a cool-weather visitant to Southern and Central India. In the 
Deccan Mr. Davidson observed a few individuals only in the rainy season ; and further north, in Guzcrat, it 
is not found, according to Captain Butler, in the hot weather ; on the eastern side of the peninsula, in the 
same latitude, it is a cold-weather bird about Calcutta and in Furreedpore ; and though I find it recorded 
from Manblium, Orissa, and Raipur, and spoken of by Mr. Ball as common on the river Koel, no mention 
is made of its breeding in those districts. In the North-west Provinces, Oudh, parts of the Punjaub, and in 
Cashmere it breeds not uncommonly, the Woolar Lake in the latter province being a great nesting- resort of 
the species. It is common in Sindh and at the Sambhur Lake, and in the former Mr. Hume was informed 
that it bred. Eastward of the Bay it does not seem to be generally diffused, as it is only recorded from the 
district between the Salween and the Sittang rivers in Tenasserim. It appears to avoid the highlands of 
Central Asia, but not the lower-lying Mongolian region, where Prjevalsky found it breeding abundantly on 
the Tsaidemin-nor lake. Although found as far north as these regions, it does not range into Siberia, and 
Schrenck did not observe it on the Amoor. In Palestine it is abundant, according to Canon Tristram, on the 
Sea of Galilee, and retires in the breeding-season to the marshes of Iluleh to nest. Iu the spring it is found 
on the shores of the Mediterranean and on the islands, being recorded from Malta as late as the month of 
May. It inhabits the southern and central portions of Europe as far north as Germany in the summer, 
breeding in Greece, in Southern Russia, on the Caspian and the Volga, in Hungary (presumably, having been 
obtained there in June), and on the marismas of Southern Spain; it arrives on passage north in the Gibraltar 
district about the middle of April ( Irby ), and nests in Andalucia in May. It is an accidental visitor to 
North Germany and the north of France, and has occasionally been found in England. It does not occur 
in the Baltic. 
It does not extend to America ; but there is a specimen in the British Museum from Barbadoes, presented 
by Sir Robert Schomburglc, whither it had evidently wandered as a very isolated straggler. In Africa it is 
abundant in winter in parts of Morocco, in Egypt, and in Nubia, and ascends the Nile into Abyssinia. It 
breeds in great numbers, according to Favier, at Ras Dowra, in Morocco. It is found also iu Egypt and Nubia 
throughout the year ; and Von Heuglin is of opinion that it breeds iu the country. We have no record of its 
wandering past the equator on the east coast ; but it is found on the western side of the continent ; and as it 
is very abundant in Damara Land in winter, its course of migration is evidently by way of the west coast. 
Habits . — This Marsh-Tern, which is the finest of its genus, is a bird of fearless disposition and bouyant 
and graceful, though not swift, flight, and frequents fresh waters more than the sea-coast, although it is 
partial to brackish lagoons, shallow salt lakes, aud estuaries of large rivers. In Ceylon it is the only Tern 
seen in the paddy-fields ; and as it is of a gregarious nature, large flocks collect there in the autumn while 
the land is being ploughed, and sometimes follow the natives while they are working, picking up water-beetles 
and other aquatic insects which become exposed by the upturning of the slushy soil. They are to be seen 
throughout the season careering round and round the Colombo Lake, and flying most perseveringly to and fro, 
traversing many miles in their course without ever dipping into the water ; and when tired of conducting a 
fruitless search, will fly off again or settle perhaps on the telegraph-wires crossing the lake or the Lotus-pond, 
and rest there in company with Swallows, occasionally starting off on a fresh cruise in pursuit of the gnats 
and insects which infest the latter spot. They frequently perch on fences and stakes in the paddy-fields. 
Their flight is generally low, about 20 feet from the water ; and when they descend upon their prey they do 
not pounce, but, dashing down, they expand their w'ings, and “ dip up ” the fish which they have espied from 
above. At Hambantota I have seen them hovering for an instant over the eggs of the Little Tern, and was 
inclined to believe that they had eggs themselves ; but the individuals I saw so doing were in winter plumage. 
They do not rest upon rocks, but are often to be seen in little troops reposing on the sandy beach. At nights 
they resort to beds of reeds or bushes in swamps to roost ; and when flying off to their feeding-grounds in the 
morning they pi’oceed in closely-packed little troops straight-on-end ; and if crossing an arm of the sea or 
