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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$Dublin. The species appears to be cos- mopolitan, ami its occurrence on the coast of Ireland must bo regarded as a mere accident. It will be seen, by a rel'erence to Gould’s ‘ Handbook of the Birds of Australia,' that IMr. Gilbert says that the Noddy “breeds on the Houtmanu’s Abrol- hos in prodigious numbers : it lays its egg in November and December, on a nest constructed of sea-weed, about six inches in diameter, and four to eight inches in height, but without anything like regu- larity of form : the top is nearly flat, there being but a very slight hollow to prevent their single egg from falling olf.” Audu- bon thinks the Noddy lays “ three eggs of a reddish yellow-colour, spotted and patched with dull red and faint purple.” It is probable three or four species are confounded by naturalists under the name of Sterna stolida, and certainly as many by peamen under that of Noddy.] Tern, Roseate.—\_Yarrell,i\i. 505; Hew- ttsoa, cxxxii. 470. Sterna Dougalli, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. ii. 738; Selby, ii. 470.]— Supplement. — Sterna Dougallii.—It will be seen we have already given a new spe- cies of Sterna [see Tern, Gullbilled], which has most commonly been con- founded with the Sand wich Tern : audit may appear extraordinary that another new species of this tribe should lately be discovered in this country. To Dr. M'Dougall, of Glasgow, the amateurs of Science are indebted for this valuable dis- covery, several of which were shot in the West Highlands of Scotland, and of two preserved in that gentleman’s collection he was so obliging as to favour us with one of them, accompanied with a full de- scription, taken upon the spot while the birds were fresh. Of this description, therefore, we shall give the substance as nearly as possible, occasionally introducing anything that may have occurred to us upon examination. Length fifteen inches and a half: the bill one inch five-eighths long'to the feathers on the forehead, slen- der, slightly curved, and of a jet-black colour, except at the base, which is of a bright orange, extending about the eighth of an inch in breadth on the upper man- dible from the corner of the mouth, round the front, and round the nostrils ; and on the under mandible, extending from the angle of the mouth along the sides as far as the feathers on the chin, and rather beyond on the under part: the inside of the mouth and throat bright orange, be- coming darker towards the end of the hill: irides black : the tongue one-half the length of the bill, of a pale red-colour, and bifurcated at the point: the forehead, crown, hind port, and sides of the head, taking in the eyes, except a small portion of the lower part of the orbit, jet-black; the black feathers on the hind head thinly diffused, and flowing over the white down the back of the neck ; the feathers on the sides of the head, extending in a narrow line along the upper mandible to the nos- trils, and on the sides of the neck, white : the whole under parts are white, but the fore part of the neck, breast, and belly to beyond the vent, are tinged with a most delicate rosy blush : the back, scapulars, and coverts of the wings pale cinereous- grey : the quill-feathers are narrow; the first has the exterior web black, -with a hoary tinge ; the others are hoary on that part; and part of the inner web next to the shaft of the first three or four is hoary black, becoming by degrees paler in the succeeding feathers, all deeply margined with white quite to the tip, and the shafts of all are white : length of the wing from the elbow to the extremity of the fii’st quill-feather nine inches and a quarter: the tail is greatly forked; the outer feather is seven inches long, extend- ing two inches beyond the wings when closed, extremely slender, and the end for an inch or more slightly ciliated ; the mid- dle feathers are scarcely three inches in length, they are all white, destitute of any markings : the legs and feet, including the bare space above the knee, which is nearly half an inch, are of the brightest orange- colour ; the claws black and hooked. Such is the description of this interesting spe- cies of Tern; but we must not withhold Dr. M'Dougall’s very correct comparative observations, which we shall transcribe :— “ This Tern is of a light and very elegant figure, differing from the Sterna Hirundo in the size, length, colpur, and curvature of the bill; in the comparative shortness of the wing in proportion to the tail; in the purity of the whiteness of the tail, and the peculiar conformation and extraor- dinary length of the lateral feathers. It also differs from that bird in the length, colour, and size of the legs and feet. From the Sandwich Tern it differs essentially in the shortness of the wings in proportion to the tail, and completely in the colour of the legs and feet.” From these notes, which Dr. M'Dougall took upon the spot where the bird -was killed, wo might col- lect sufficient information to consider it as distinct from any of the known British species, although many of its characters are veiy similar to those of Sterna Boysii. With the Sterna Hirundo its principal and almost only similarity is that of size, if anything, rather inferior in bulk, but of greater lengtii by reason of the extraor- dinary long feathers of the tail. 'The length of the bill is not only rather$