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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$acknowledgment we must also include Captain Laskey, by whom we were first made ac(iuainted that such a bird had been taken by and was in the collection of Dr. M'Dougall, to whom he kindly com- municated our wishes to examine it. Were all collectors of the works of Nature equally liberal, how much more rapidly would knowledge increase upon us ! but, unfor- tunately for Science, there are some who withhold the little information they could give. Tern, Sandwich.— {^Yarrell, iii. 501; Hewitson, cxxxii. 478.] Sterna cantiaca, Gmel. Syst. ii. p. 600. Sterna Boysii, Jnd. Oni. ii. p. 806, 10 ; Bewick, Br. Birds, ii. t. p. 904. Sandwich Tern, Lath. Syii. vi. p. 350, 9; Sup. p. 960 ; Boys, Sandwich, t. p. 851; Lewin, Br. Birds, vi. t. 903; Wale. Sy n. i. t. 190; Don. Br. Birds, V. t. 190. Vak. : La Guifette, Buf. viii. p. 339. Cloven-footed GuU, Alhin, ii. t. 82 ? Sterna ncevia, Lin. Syst. i. p. 228, 5; Gmel. Syst. ii. p. 009 ; Bris. vi. p. 216, 0, t. 20, f. 1; Ib. 8vo, ii. p. 418. Kamts- chatkan Tern, Arct. Zool. ii. p. 525, A.; Lath. Syn. vi. p. 358, 9, var. A. — This is the largest of the British species ; length about eighteen inches. The bill is black ; hides dusky. The upper part of the head and nape, taking in the eyes, is black; the rest of the head, neck, under parts of the bodj, and taU white; back, scapulars, and wings cinereous-grey ; the first five or six prime quills are tipped with black; the inner webs more or less white towards the base ; tail considerably forked ; the outer feathers dashed with cinereous on the ex- terior webs; legs dusky, with a tinge of red. Young birds not maturely feathered are more or less clouded with brown on the upper parts of the body and wings, and the head spotted with white. This bird was first noticed by Mr. Boys of Sandwich, where it is not uncommon, and communicated to Dr. Latham, who first gave it to the world. It does not appear to be so plentiful as either of the other species, for in a whole summer’s residence on the coast of Sussex and Kent, where the others are in plenty, we were not able to procure more than two specimens; nor could we ever find where it bred. It comes to us and retires about the same time as the others, anil has no doubt been con- founded with the Common Tern, to which it bears very great resemblance, except in size, and in tlie colour of tbe bill and legs; the bill of this is also much stronger, the legs much longer, and the (nil not so much forked. It has, however, all the manners and habits of the common spe- cies, ns far as we have been able to collect. We ore informed it breeds on the Sand- wich const, but have never with certainty heal’d of its eggs being found. Wo were favoured with an egg, said to belong to this bird, from Mr. Le\vin, and have seen another from the same gentleman in the cabinet of Dr. Latham ; both of which ap- pear in size and colour to be that of the Common Tern. Supplement. — The ingenious Mr. Be- wick has evidently traced this species of Tern to the coast of Northumberland. The figure alone which this author has given would have been sufiBcient to have iden- tified the bird; but we also obtain some interesting observations. “ A pair of these birds (says the author), male and female, were shot on the Fern Islands, on the coast of Northumberland, in July, 1802. They measured two feet nine inches from tip to tip of the wings : the bills were tipped with yellow: the black feathers which capped and adorned their heads were elongated behind, forming a kind of peaked crest, which overhung the nape and hinder part of the neck : the feathers of the fore part of the neck and breast, when ruffled up, appeared delicately and faintly blushed with red. In other re- spects they corresponded so nearly with Dr. Latham’s accurate description that to attempt giving any other would be use- less.” Thus, while we have to lament the want of the complete habits of this species with respect to the natiu’e and situation of its nest and colour of the eggs (which evi- dently might have been ascertained, since they breed on the islands before men- tioned), yet we learn some essential cha- racters. First, that the tip of the bill being of a light colour is an invariable character: Mr. Bewick says yellow, so that we may conclude ours is only faded to a pale horn-colour. Secondly, the blush of red, observed on lifting up the feathers of the breast and fore part of the neck, ap- pears to be an essential character; for even our sjiecimen, which must have been killed nearly thirty years, retains a slight degree of this blush-colour beneath the surface of the feathers on those parts. We have only now to observe that without doubt this and the Gull-bUled Tern both breed upon the coast of Britain, and we think, with great probability, differ from the other species of Terns in the choice of jilace for the purpose of iiidification, breed- ing upon rocky elevated parts, instead of the shores, just above high-water mark. There is every reason for believing that one or both of these birds breed on the coast of France, especially (hat of Bretagne, on the isles off Ushant, and the small iso- lated rocks and promontories in that neigh- bourhood ; for the eggs, apparently belong- ing to a large species of ’Tern, have been$