BLACK TERN. 
5 
H. hybrida with a more slender bill, and the webs of 
the feet are not so much incised. 
Range in Great Britain. — The Black Tern is no longer known 
as a breeding species in England, but in former times it used to 
nest in the marshes of the east coast. But for the draining of 
the fen-lands the species might yet be found nesting, and I 
have myself seen birds in full breeding plumage, passing north 
^ong the shores of the Kentish coast in May. According to 
Mr. Howard Saunders, the last recorded eggs were taken in 
though early in the century the nests of the 
Blue Darr, as the bird was called, might have been found in 
hundreds on the alder swamps. In the autumn the birds 
returii southwards, and during the gales which then frequently 
prevad, they are driven inland along the rivers, so that I have 
fishing on the Thames at Cookham, in 
several of these pretty birds flying round me, 
^ 1^'evalence of a strong easterly gale. The species 
tnore rarely on the west coast of England than 
pon the east, and is found only as a straggler in the northern 
Ireland ®^*bsh Island, and as a rare autumn visitor to 
Black Tern breeds in 
fnr ^ ^ localities throughout Europe, south of 6o°N. lat., and as 
tn Tn* Turkestan. It winters in Africa, reaching 
east coast and the shores of Abyssinia on the 
Black^TATr.^y^u” spring, proceeding northward, the 
distance fron° th'rsh^ usual habits of the family, flying at a little 
intervals into the !« !’ dipping at 
beatino- It,, ^ capture some small prey and then 
seen it h onward. Under such circumstances I have 
but in itQ spring and autumn on the coasts of England, 
and I STi .^^^uts on the Continent it is an inland species, 
wherf^ ii \ '! Hanzdg marshes in Hungary in May, 
a harsh disturbed the birds fly up, uttering 
note morp syllable “ crick ” ; but they have another 
Ke-e-e Mr. Seebohm very well expresses by 
but it also f Black Tern consists of smalt fishes, 
ced on leeches, worms, and even on insects, for it 
