1034 
STERNA DOUGALLI. 
Colour of hill. Mr. Ilume's experience at the Andamans of the change in the colour of the bill is exactly the reverse 
of what mine is. He says the bills are blackish in April, changing to orange-red in May at the base ; in June the 
terminal parts are dusky blackish, and in July tho whole bill is orange-red. Now at the beginning of June (1875), 
when these Terns appeared at Trincomalie, all that I could see had reddish bills ; and what I shot with such bills 
had abraded tails and but little rosy colour on the breast. At the end of June many that I saw on the wing had 
black bills, and what I shot with such bills were in magnificent and perfect plumage. The numbers I saw and 
those I shot may not have been sufficient to give me a true insight into the question, and therefore I will not 
assume that my opinion is the correct one, but merely call the attention of ornithologists to these facts with a 
Hew to adducing more evidence to show whether or not the colour of the bill is quite an untrustworthy character. 
It is noteworthy that the nearer we get to Australia the redder the bills appear to be. Gould’s Sterna gracilis is 
founded mainly on the red bill as distinguished from the black one in European specimens. The series I procured 
in Ceylon exhibited a peculiar feature in having acquired the new primaries before the rectrices ; the opposite is 
the case with all other Terns I have met with in that island. 
Distribution. In his catalogue of Ceylonese birds Mr. Holdsworth notices the capture of some Terns at 
Colombo in July 1SG9, one of which Mr. Howard Saunders identified as S. gracilis. In May and June 1875 
laige numbers visited the coast at Trincomalie and remained until the beginning of July, when they disap- 
peared; and as Captain Wimberlcy found them breeding at Port Blair, South Andaman, in June, the 
Ceylonese visitants probably moved on there and bred in other parts of the islands. In 1873 the same 
gentleman procured it in the Andamans, and Mr. Davison sent a specimen thence to Mr. Hume. It appears 
therefore that it visits the Bay of Bengal at irregular times. It ranges south to Australia, chiefly frequenting 
the west, north, and north-east coasts down to the latitude of Wide Bay. At Noumea, New Caledonia, 
Layard has procured it, as also at Ansevata, where he found it breeding on New-Year’s day. Mr. Gilbert met 
u ith it on the west coast of Australia, at the Uoutmann’s Abrolhos, in great numbers, and found it breeding 
there in the month of November. It probably occurs on the coasts of Sumatra and Java, though it has not 
yet been noticed in cither of those islands. It is very rare on the coasts of India. Mr. Hume records it from 
one locality (Laynah creek) on the Tenasserim coast, Where it occurred accidentally on one occasion. Mons. 
Dussumier procured an example on the Bengal coast ; and at the mouth of the Indus Captain Butler was 
recently informed that a rosy-tinted Tern had been seen, which must have been this species. Between India 
and Europe it does not appear to have been noticed ; and on the latter continent its distribution is by no means 
universal. I find no record of its occurrence at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, nor in Egypt or the 
Red Sea. It is very rare in Greece, and, according to Salvadori, has only once occurred in Italy, in Liguria, 
in June 1822. It has been shot in the Balearic Islands, but is not recorded from Spain. It is rare on the coasts 
ol France, Holland, and the Baltic, and does not range to the north beyond lat. 57°, according to Mr. Saunders. 
It is perhaps more common in the British Isles than in most parts of the continent, for it breeds in Scotland and 
Ireland. In the former country it was first discovered by Dr. McDougall on the Cumbrcv Islands in the 
riith of Clyde, and named after this gentleman by Colonel Montagu. It breeds in Xilbrannan Sound, on 
Loch Lomond, in Morayshire, on Foulney Island, on the coasts of Cornwall, aud in Ireland, according to 
lhompson, on Mew Island. On the east coasts of North America it is more common than in Europe, breeding 
from Massachusetts to Florida, including the island of Bermuda. It has been met with in the West. Indies, 
and Mr. Salvin found it on the coast of British Honduras. Finally, in the Atlantic it occurs in the Azores' 
for Mr. DuCane Godman saw it at Fayal. It does not frequent the west coast of Africa ; but it has been shot 
at the Cape of Good Hope and in Natal; and it is said to be found, writes Mr. Dresser, at Rodriguez. 
Habits. This lovely Tern, which may easily be distinguished from all others on the wing by its extremely 
elegant form and lengthened tail-feathers, is purely a sea-coast species, rarely being seen away from salt water, 
and seldom even frequenting backwaters and salt lagoons near the sea. It is not a swift bird in its ordinary 
flight; but nevertheless turns and twists about with the greatest ease and grace, and plunges sharply upon its 
prey. \\ bile proceeding along with light though measured strokes of its wings over the breaking surf, it will 
suddenly stop, wheel round, point its bill downwards, and seeing a fish will fall upon it like an arrow, its elegant 
form making but little splash in the foaming waters. At other times it will sweep gracefully down in a curve, 
and delve up the “ fry ” from the surface. Its long “ streamers ” are carried close together, so that the bird 
