IOS
L E S S E R T E R N.
Y FOll-WENXOL BACH, OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH.
LITTLE TERN.
Sterna minuta, LLNNJSUS. PENNANT. MONTAGU.
Sterna minor,
Sterna îneiopoleucos,
BEWICK. FLEMING. SELBY.
JENYNS. GOULD.
BRISSON.
GMELIN.
Sterna—. ? Minuta—Minute—small.
T H E Little Tern, in Europe, is found on the coasts of Holland,
France, Holstein, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Russia; also a
few in Germany. In America they range from the States to the
Gulf of Mexico. In Africa, along the western shores and in the
Canary Islands. In Asia, in India, Siberia, and in the neighbourhood
of the Black Sea and the Caspain Sea.
This species, (La Petite Hirondelte-de-Mer/ is common on the coast
of Norfolk. In the county of York, specimens have been procured
near Huddcrsfield, at Ecclesfield, near Sheffield, and not unfrcquently
near Barnslcy; also, naturally, on the coast. In Cornwall, one was
obtained at Mount's Bay, April 16th., 1852; several others, one at
Pennance in 1866. A few in Devonshire. They have been likewise
noticed on the coasts of Essex and Suffolk.
I t occurs at uncertain intervals, as I have been informed by Mr.
Thomas Thorncroft, in the neighbourhood of Shoreham; two were
shot by him there in May, 1850; seven or eight appeared in May,
1853, near Brightharnpton, Oxfordshire; others near Oxford, two April
23rd., 1853. One was seen by the Revs. Andrew and Henry Matthews,
in June, 184.6, flying about the margin of the lake in Kirtlington