A dictionary of British birds : reprinted from Montagu's Ornithological dictionary, and incorporating the additional species described by Selby; Yarrell, in all three editions, and in natural-history journals / compiled and edited by Edward Newman.

George Montagu

Date:: 1866

Credit: A dictionary of British birds : reprinted from Montagu's Ornithological dictionary, and incorporating the additional species described by Selby; Yarrell, in all three editions, and in natural-history journals / compiled and edited by Edward Newman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$the under parts of the bird mostly white, except a little patch of black on the breast; quills dusky grey; tail paler grey* Tlie Sterna nigra of Linnaeus is ■without doubt only a variety of fissipes, and has been thought so by others, though lately made distinct ■without sufficient reason. The bird here described will show the propriety of bringing aU the synonyms of Sterna nigra together with those of fissipes. It is remarkable that the under parts of this bird, when young or in its first plumage, should be white, so contrary to that of the GuU genus, which never become white in those parts till after the first, and some not till the third or fourth, moult. The black on the under parts of this species does not appear till after the first moult- ing. In the breeding season both sexes of this species have the head, neck, and all the under parts as far as the vent, entirely black, with now and then a few white fea- thers at the base of the upper mandible : the legs dusky, with a tinge of red. We observed great abundance of Black Terns on the fens of Lincolnshire during the breeding season, and could Hot discern any difierence in plumage between the sexes: many that had no white on the head were opened, and males as well as females ascertained. About the middle of May this species prepares a nest of flags or broad grass, in the most marshy places, upon a tuft just above the surface of the water; and lays almost invariably four eggs, weighing about three drams each. The flight of the Black Tern is not very unlike that of the Goatsucker; its evolu- tions are rapid, and its turns short, by which means it sometimes escapes the talons of predaceous birds, as we had once an opportunity of witnessing. In a very hard gale of wind many Terns were sport- ing over the w’ater, when a Peregrine Fal- con passed like a shot, singled out his bii-d, and presently coming up ■with the chase, made a pounce, but the gi'eat dex- terity of the Teni avoided the deadly stroke, and took a new direction. The Falcon, by his superior velocity, soon re- gained sufficient elevation to successively repeat his pounces, but at last relinquished the pursuit. Tern, Brown. — Sterna obscura, Gmel. Syst. i. p. 608 ; Ind. Om. ii. p. 810, 25. Sterna fusca, Raii Syn. p. 131, A. 15; Will. p. 208, VIII. Brown Tern, Br. Zool. ii. No. 253 ; Ih. fol. 143 ; Will. Angl. p. 352; Lath. Syn. vi. p. 368, 23.—This we believe to be no other than the young of the Com- mon Tern, having seen them in the plum- age described by Ray and Willugbby, and copied by various authors since. The head is black; wings partly brown and ash- 340 colour; the rest of the plumage above brown, beneath white; the tail not forked. Mr. Pennant has placed this amongst his Gulls, no doubt from its not having a forked tail; but he expresses a suspicion that it is the young of the Greater Tern. Dr. Latham has done the same. Supplement. — In the second Supple- ment to the ‘ General Synopsis ’ the syno- nyms of Sterna obscura have been affixed to a species of Larus, under the title of Brown Gull. This Gull wo have before shown is not a distinct species, but the young of the Black-headed Gull, to wdiich we beg leave to refer. With respect to the Brown Tern of Ray, it ever has and ever will be in obscurity; but there cannot be the least doubt that it is one of the Terns in its immature plumage, most likely the common species (Sterna Hi- rundo), which is at first brown above, and the tail scarcely forked. See the last spe- cies and the folloiving [Tern, Black; and Tern, Common.] Upon the subject of this and the Brown Gull we have been more diffuse under the article Black- headed Gull, both in this work and in vol. vii. of the ‘ Transactions of the Linnean So- ciety,’ to which we refer the curious reader. [Tern, Caspian. — Yarrell, ui. 497 ; Hew- itson, cxxxi. 477. Sterna caspia, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. ii. 733 ; Selby, Brit. Ornith. ii. 463.—“ In the adult summer or nuptial plumage the bill is of a rich vermihon, and the legs and feet black. The forehead, crown of the head, and lengthened oc- cipital feathers velvet-black. Back, sca,- pulars, and -\ring-coverts pearl-grey. Sides of the head, fore part of the neck, and the whole of tl% under plumage pure white. Quills brown, tinged with grey. Tail pearl-grey. In winter the forehead and crown of the head are white, and the occi- put is varied with black and white. In other respects as above described. The young of the year have the upper parts of a pale wood-bro^mi, tinged with grey, and varied by the transverse blackish bars and spots. Quills blackish brown, and the end of the tail of the same colour. The under plumage white.” — Selby, ii. 464. A con- siderable number of this large species of Tern have occurred at intervals on the eastern coast of England. Mr. Yarrell mentions ten, and four others are re- corded in the ‘ Zoologist.’ It breeds annually on a Danish islet called Sylt, ofi the coast of Jutland, and lays two or three eggs, either on the bare sand or rock: they ai-e of an ochreous-yellow colour, blotched and spotted with gray and ferru- ginous-brown.] Tern, Common.—[Yarrell,iii. 509; Hew-$