ACTOCHELIDON CANTIACA. 
Sandwich Tern. 
Sterna cantiaca, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 606. 
Boysii, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. ii. p. 806. 
ncevia, Bew. Brit. Birds, 1804, vol. ii. p. 207. 
stuberica, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. iv. p. 679. 
canescens, Meyer, Tasehenb. deutsch. Vdg., tom. ii. p. 458. 
africana, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 605. 
striata, Gmel. ibid., p. 609. 
nehulosa, Sparrm. Mus. Carls., tab. 63. 
Columba colimbina, Sehrank, Faun. Boica, p. 252. 
Actochelidon cantiaca, Kaup, Naturl. Syst., p. 31. 
Thalasseus canescens, Brebm, Vog. Deutschl., p. 776. 
candicans, Brebm, ibid,, p. 777, tab. 38. fig. 4. 
cantiacus, Bonap. Geog. and Comp. List of Birds of Eur. and N. Amer., p. 61. 
This very fine species of Tern is a summer resident with us, as it also is in Ireland and Scotland, but is 
less abundant there than it is in England. In Holland, France, Spain, and the countries adjoining the 
shores of the Mediterranean generally, it is equally plentiful in the seasons of summer and autumn. In 
India and China it does not occur ; but it is present in Africa from north to south. Bonaparte, in his 
‘ Geographical and Comparative List of the Birds of Europe and North America,’ assigns it a place in the 
fauna of the latter continent ; but it is not now included in the enumeration of American birds by more 
recent writers. It is clear, then, that Western and Southern Europe, and Africa generally, comprise the 
extent of its range. F'rom the country last mentioned I have seen numerous specimens, most of which 
proved to be in the plumage of winter, at which season the forehead and crown are pure white. Instead 
of the black which is characteristic of the nuptial and summer dress. 
On most of the sandy parts of our sea-shores, from the coast of Kent to the Fern Islands, the Sandwich 
Tern either did or does now breed, in some places sparingly, in others in large assemblages ; it is alike 
numerous on onr western shores, particularly the coast of Lancashire. Mr. A. G. More, in his paper “ On 
the Distribution of Birds in Great Britain during the Nesting-season,” published in ‘The Ibis’ for 1865, 
gives the following as some of the breeding-places of this species in our islands ; — “ Cornwall (^Mr. E. H. 
Rodd) ; at the mouth of the Thames (J/r. F. Bond)} ; in Lancashire {Rev. H. B. Tristram)) ; on the Fern 
Islands and the Isle of Coquet, off Northumberland, and on the coast of Cumberland. Mr. Robert Gray 
writes that a small colony has lately established itself on an island in Loch Lomond; and Sir W. Jardine 
tells us that it breeds on the Isle of May and off North Berwick. Further north the birds have been seen 
in summer on the Firths of Tongue and Erribol ; but the nest was not discovered.” In the second edition 
of Mr. Rodd’s ‘List of British Birds’ he says : — “ Cornish : a few pairs observed in the summer months on 
some of the islands of Scilly, where they annually breed ; found sparingly on the Land’s-end coast.” In 
Ireland according to Thompson, it “ is of occasional occurrence on the coast during summer and autumn, 
both in immature and adult plumage. More recent information has led to the belief that it may breed 
on the Dublin coast; hut, from the limited number of birds seen at any period, but few, I presume, have 
ever bred on the island.” 
“ The Sandwich Tern,” says Yarrell, “was first observed and obtained in this country at Sandwich, in 1784, 
by Mr. Boys, who sent specimens to Dr. Latham,- by whom the particulars respecting it were published in 
the sixth volume of his ‘ General Synopsis,’ p. 356. Attention being thus drawn to this species, it has since 
been ascertained to be a regular summer visitor, appearing in spring and departing in autumn, after having 
reared the yearly brood.” 
Mr. Selby, who had the best opportunities of observing this species from one of its principal places of 
resort being contiguous to his estate in Northnmberland, says: — “It annually resorts to the Fern Islands, 
as well as the Isle of Coquet, a few miles to the southward. Here a station is selected apart from the 
other species, generally on a higher site ; and the nests are so close to each other as to render it difficult to 
cross the ground without breaking the eggs or injuring the unfledged young. Upon this coast it is called 
par excellence ‘ the Tern,’ all the other species passing under the general name of ‘ Sea-Swallows.’ Its 
habits strongly resemble those of its congeners ; and it subsists upon similar kinds of fish, the sand-launce 
