STERNA MACRURA, Naun.
Arctic Tern.

Sterna hirundo, Faber, Prod. der island. Orn., p. 88.
— macrura, Naum. Isis, 1819, p. 1847.

— arctica, Temm. Man. d’Orn., 2" édit. tom. ii. p. 742, et tom. iv. p. 458.
—_— Mitaschu, Kaup, Isis, 1824, p. 153.

—— macroura, Coues, Proc. Acad. Sci. Philad., 1862, p. 549.

brachytarsa, Graba?

 

 

Tus bird has hitherto been known to all British ornithologists under Temminck’s specific appellation of
arctica; but that of macrura, 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 Linnzeus, 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 fo 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,

down, usually of a fulvous or brown shade, with darker variegations.
z . ° ~ ryv2¢ ;
Their food is the fry of the Ammodytes Tabianus (Land-

when excluded, are covered with a particoloured

They fledge very rapidly, and within

a month from the time of hatching are able to fly.
or Sand-Eel), which is brought to them in great abundance by a ae 1
middle of May, and desert their breeding-station early in Pues o 1e female lays two ges,
prevailing tint of which is oil-green, with darker spots and blotches. z ee
«The swiftest little creature in the whole sea is the sand-eel; and yet the Terns catch thousands 0
catches the Trout, excepting that the Tern uses its sharp-
sand-eels which the Terns have dropped on

They arrive towards the

these fisb, in the same way as the Osprey
pointed bill instead of its feet. I have often taken up
being alarmed, and have invariably found that the little ss :
That a bird should catch such a little slippery, active fish

fish had but one small wound, immediately

behind the head as the sand-eel, in the
vehind the head.