4- V ar. A.
D escription.
Place.
8.
EGYPTIAN T.
Description.
Place.
9* , 4- SANDWICH
T.
D escription.
JT E N G T H thirteen inches. Bill two inches, black: from
the forehead to the middle of the crown, the fides of the
head, the neck all round, and all the under parts, from chin to
vent, and under wing coverts, white f the reft of the crown and
nape dulky, ending in a point, and a little mottled on the edges
with white : the back and wings deep alh-colour, nearly black :
the fhafts of the quills above are chefnut; beneath white ; as is
alfo the outer web of the firft : tail the colour of the back, but
paler, not greatly forked, and is much Ihorter than the wings:
legs black.
This flew aboard a lhip in the run from the Madeiras to the
Weft Indies.
Sterna Nilotica, HaJ/ilq. It. p. 273. N° 41.
g I Z E of a Pigeon. Bill black: head and upper part of the
neck alh-colour, marked with fmall blackifh fpots: round
the eyes black, dotted with white: back, wings, and tail, alh-
colour : the outer quills deep alh-colour: all the under parts
white : legs flelh-colour : claws black.
Inhabits Egypt: found in Hocks in January, efpecially about
Cairo. Feeds on infe£ls,Jmallfijh,, &c. May be found frequent
among other birds, on the mud left by the overflowing of the
river Nile. .
J ^ E N G T H eighteen inches. Bill two inches; colour black,
with the tip horn-colour: tongue half the length of the b ill:
irides
irides hazel: forehead, crown, hind head, and fides above the
eye, black : the reft of the head, neck, under parts of the body,
and tail, white : the back and wings pale hoary lead-colour: the
firft five quills hoary black, the inner webs deeply margined
with white; the fixth like the others, but much paler; the reft
of the quills like the back : the tail is forked, the outer feather
fix inches and a quarter in length; the wings reach rather beyond
i t : legs and claws black : the under part of the feet dulky red.
Some fpecimens have the top of the head dotted with white.
In young birds the upper parts are much clouded with brown ;
and the whole of the top of the head greatly mixed with white;
but this is not peculiar, as the young of other ferns with black
heads are in the fame ftate.
This fpecies is pretty common on the eoafts of Kent, in the Place and.
fummer months, and breeds there : frequents that of Sandwich in
vaft flocks, and makes a fcreaming noife. May be fuppofed to lay
their eggs among the rocks in the month of June, and hatch them
before the middle of July, as I have received the young birds
from that diligent naturalift Mr. Boys, the end of Auguft 1784.
About the fame time a young bird, with nearly the fame markings,
was Iho.t by Dr. Leith, of Greenwich, on the banks of the
fhomes near that place*. Whether thefe birds only vifit us at
uncertain feafons, or have hitherto paffed unnoticed among other
Terns, we know not; but believe it has not yet been recorded as
a Britijh fpecies- A young bird of this kind is in the Leverian
Mujeum, but differed in having a mottling of black palling
through the eye to the hind head : faid to have been brought
from South America.
* A young one of this fpecies is mentioned to have been Ihot near Shrttvfiury.
Art!. Zool. N° 526.
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