STERNA MACRURA, Naum, 
Arctic Tern. 
Sterna hirundo, Faber, Prod, der island. Orn., p. 88. 
macrura, Naum. Isis, 1819, p. 1847. 
arctica, Temm. Man. d’Orn., 2“'^® edit. tom. ii. p. 742, et tom. iv. p. 458. 
Nitzschii, Kaup, Isis, 1824, p. 153. 
macroura. Cones, Proc. Acad. Sci. Philad., 1862, p. 549. 
brachytarsa, Graba ? 
This bird has hitherto been known to all British ornithologists under Temminek’s specific appellation of 
arctica ; but that of maci'ura, having been previously assigned to it by Naumann, must, in fairness to that 
author, be the one adopted. As to the present bird being the Sterna hirundo of Linnaeus, as some modern 
ornithologists are inclined to believe, sufficient has been said in my account of the Common Tern. Both 
birds are summer visitors to the shores of various parts of our islands for the purpose of breeding, after 
which they leave for the surrounding seas, particularly those which wash our southern and western coasts. 
In the winter season the two species often intermingle, especially the young birds of the year. The Tern or 
Sea Swallow now under consideration is the more northern bird of the two, its summer range extending to 
within the arctic circle, where it inhabits the polar portions of the Old and New World, being as plentiful 
in Iceland and the boreal regions of America as it is in those of Europe and Asia. Our voyagers found it 
breeding on Melville Peninsula, and on the islands and beaches of the Arctic Sea, Greenland, Iceland, and 
the Faroe Islands. It also breeds in Norway, Lapland, Sweden, and Denmark, and penetrates to the dismal 
solitudes of Spitzbergen. Britain affords it many great nurseries, of which one of the most southern is the 
Farn Islands, off the coast of Northumberland. Northward of this, it breeds all round the northern and 
eastern coasts of Scotland, the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland, and on those of Ireland, wherever 
suitable localities occur. Its actions are more aerial than those of the Common Tern, its body and 
its wings are proportionally longer, and it has a more lengthened tail — features which indicate that it 
possesses great powers of flight ; its tarsi are shorter, its feet much smaller, and its bill more slender 
and pointed. Other differences also exist by which this bird may be distinguished from its near ally ; thus 
the bill in the adult is of a beautiful carmine-red to the very tip ; and the body is of a darker or more 
uniform blue-grey tint, both on the upper and under surface. I mention these various points of difference, 
because many persons may not be acquainted with the distinguishing characters of two of our commonest 
Terns. Some people think that the Arctic Tern breeds on the shingle at Eastbourne, Pevensey, and 
Dungeness ; but I believe this to be a mistake, and that the Common and the Little Terns are the only 
species that breed there. The eggs of S. macrura and S. hirundo are subject to considerable variation in 
colour, but are so similar that I think it is quite impossible to say to which species any single set of eggs 
belong, unless the bird be shot while rising from them. 
Whatever has been written respecting the habits, actions, and incubation of the Common Tern Is equally 
descriptive of those of the present species, except that it keeps more constantly to the salt water, and rarely 
goes to the borders of lakes and other interior waters for the purpose of breeding. According to Macgil- 
livray, there is a marked difference in their flight : he describes It as more bounding, and adds that its cries 
are shriller. 
Mr. Selby, speaking of the bird as observed by him on the Farn Islands, remarks that “ It is the most 
numerous of the Terns which resort to them, and the colony occupies a considerable portion of Brown’s 
Main. The eggs are placed so near each other that it is almost impossible to walk upon the part they 
inhabit without crushing several in making the attempt. They are laid upon the bare ground or gravel, 
and differ very much in colour and marking. The young, when excluded, are covered with a particoloured 
down, usually of a fulvous or brown shade, with darker variegations. They fledge very rapidly, and within 
a month from the time of hatching are able to fly. Their food is the fry of the Ammodytes Tabianus (Land- 
or Sand-Eel), which is brought to them in great abundance by their parents. They arrive towards the 
middle of May, and desert their breeding-station early in August. The female lays two or three eggs, the 
prevailing tint of which is oil-green, with darker spots and blotches.” 
“The swiftest little creature in the whole sea is the sand-eel; and yet the Terns catch thousands of 
these fish, in the same way as the Osprey catches the Trout, excepting that the Tern uses Its sharp- 
pointed bill instead of its feet. I have often taken up sand-eels which the Terns have dropped on 
being alarmed, and have invariably found that the little fish had but one small wound, immediately 
behind the head. That a bird should catch such a little slippery, active fish as the sand-eel, in the 
