ACTOCHELIDON GANTIACA.
Sandwich Tern.

Sterna cantiaca, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 606.
—— Boysui, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. ii. p- 806.

—— nevia, Bew. Brit. Birds, 1804, vol. ii. PaO

stuberica, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. iv. p- 679.
canescens, Meyer, Taschenb. deutsch. Vog., tom. ii. p. 458.
africana, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 605.
—— striata, Gmel. ibid., p. 609.

nebulosa, Sparrm. Mus. Carls., tab. 63.

Columba columbina, Schrank, Faun. Boica, p. 252.

 

 

Actochelidon cantiaca, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst., p. Sl. :
Thalasseus canescens, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., p- 776.

——— candicans, Brehm, ibid., p. 777, tab. 38. fig. 4,

——— cantiacus, Bonap. Geog. and Comp. List of Birds of Eur. and N. Amer., pe Ol;

 

Tuts 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 season of summer and autumn, In
India and China it does not occur; but it is present in Africa from north to south. Bonaparte, in bis
‘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. From 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 our 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 (A%. £. H.
Rodd) ; at the mouth of the Thames (Ar. 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; but, from the limited number of birds seen at any period, but few, I presume, have
ever bred on the island.” ee

“The Sandwich Tern,” says Yarrell, “ was first observed and obtained in this country at Sandwich, in oe
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.”

sEnMiTe servi is species from one of its principal places of
Mr. Selby, who had the best opportunities of observing this species fre | pal ple

i i i in N rl says :—“‘ It < ally resorts to the Fern Islands
resort being contiguous to his estate in Northumberland, says : It annually resorts to ands,

as well as the Isle of Coquet, a few miles to the southward. int, fre
and the nests are so close to each other as to render it difficult to

Here a station is selected apart from the

other species, generally on a higher site ; ‘ : dif fe
; ; ' 90S Or INJUrINg xdged young. yon this coast if 1s callec

cross the ground without breaking the eggs or injuring the unfledged young | é ‘

par excellence ‘the Tern,’ all the other species p

habits strongly resemble those of its congeners ;

a -
assing under the general name of ‘ Sea-Swallows.’ Its

and it subsists upon similar kinds of fish, the sand-launce