Whiskered Tern.
Sterna hybrida, Pall. Zoog. Ross.-Asiat., tom. ii. p. 338.
leucopareia, Natt., Temm. Man. d’Om., 1820, tom. ii. p. 746.
Delamotta, Vieill. Ency. Meth. Orn., part i. p. 350.
Viralva indica, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xiii. p. 171.
leucopareia, Steph. ibid., vol. xiii. p. 169.
Pelodes leucopareia, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst., p. 107.
Hydrochelidon leucopareia, Boie.
------------------ hybrida, G. R. Gray, Gen. of Birds, vol. iii. p. 660, Hydrochelidon, sp. 1.
W hy Pallas should have named this well-defined species hybrida I am- at a loss to imagine; I must therefore
dissent from those o f my contemporaries who persist in perpetuating, on the score o f priority, such a
misnomer; surely the laws o f nomenclature are not so rigid as to demand that an appellation so singularly
inappropriate shall not give place to the better one of leucopareia, applied to the bird by the late John
Natterer, and which, like my friend Schlegel and some other scientific writers, I adopt. It is true that
the bird possesses certain characters which would seem to unite Hydrochelidon to S tern a; but these
relate to colour rather than to structure; a moment’s glance at its feet will show its true position ; and on
investigation it will be found that its entire actions and economy assimilate to those of the Marsh- rather
than to those o f the Sea-Terns.
The characters by which it is most nearly allied to the members of the genus Sterna are the possession of
a black cap in summer, a portion of which disappears in winter, and the whiteness o f the face; the under
surface is suffused with bluish black during the summer months, a style o f colouring common to all the
Marsh-Terns; these peculiarities in its colouring are o f much interest as proving the Whiskered Tern to
be distinct from both Hydrochelidon nigra and H . leucoptera.
The Hydrochelidon leucopareia is justly entitled to a place in our avifauna; for it has been several times
killed in our island, both in its youthful light and in its mature black livery; one in the former state was obtained
at Scilly, while the specimen which, through Dr. Heysham’s instrumentality, came into the possession o f Mr.
Yarrell, another obtained in Ireland, and a third kindly sent to me by Mr. Gatcombe, are in the latter dress.
The British Islands are not, and never have been, one o f the true homes of the bird; those homes lie far
south and east of them, for they are the fluviatile marshes and inland waters o f the countries bordering the
Mediterranean, in Hungary, and in the Crimea. The bird appears in Malta in spring and autumn, but,
according to Wright, is not common. The individuals that are then seen are doubtless on their passage to
and from Algeria to Southern Europe. It frequents all the great lakes and swamps o f North Africa, and is
probably common in all parts o f that country and thence eastward to the Nile, in Persia, India, and China.
The Rev. Mr. Tristram, speaking of the bird as seen by him in North Africa, under the name of Sterna hybrida,
says:— “ Hundreds of lovely Terns were hovering about or dipping headlong into the dark still water of Lake
Halloula. I shot several, and found most of them to be the Whiskered Tern ( Sterna hybrida) ; but mingled
with them were many o f the Black and Lesser Terns (S . nigra and S . minuta). Sterna hybrida is easily
distinguished by its note, which is less shrill and more rapidly repeated than that o f S . nig ra ; but in
general appearance it very closely resembles the S . arctica, so familiar on our own Northumbrian coasts, with
its lake-red bill and feet and its black head. Searching for the nesting-place of the Terns, I was surprised
to find the whole colony o f Whiskered Terns (S . hybrida) breeding in the nests of Eared Grebes, and that
apparently without having at all repaired the nests, which could have been only a few days evacuated by
their constructors, as we saw hundreds o f young Eared Grebes paddling about and living in the open air
with their parents. My series o f eggs of S . hybrida shows a decided tendency to pale green as the groundcolour,
and a type clearly distinguishable from that o f any other Tern, though somewhat approaching the
character o f S . leucoptera, which, however, are much smaller, and only exceptionally o f a greenish ground.
The markings are nearly as large as in the eggs o f the Common Tern. A favourite food with these birds
appeared to be a large hairy caterpillar, which covered the neighbouring marshes at this time in thousands.
They were also plunging into the lake in quest of the frogs and newts with which it abounds.”—Ibis,
1860, pp. 157, 164.
Lord Lilford informs us, in his paper “ On the Birds observed in the Ionian Islands,” &c., published in
the same volume of the ‘ Ibis,’ that the “ Whiskered Tern (Sterna leucopareia) is common in winter at
Butrinto, and breeds in the marshes o f Durazzo ” (p. 357).
Speaking of the bird under the name of Hydrochelidon indica, Mr. Jerdon says:— “ This Tern is