S A N D W I C H TERN.
.STERNA CANTLICA.
Dt'KIXo the •mm 11 ii of tniirratiou in spring and autumn tliis Tern is to lie soon along the coast-lino
in many parls of ihc Drilisli Islands. In Sussex, Kent, Norfolk, aud along tlic shores of the Firth
of Forth, I have repeatedly met with this species working north in spring. On ono occasion a party
of rive or six were recognized in June on the Dornoch Firth off Tain; though the birds remained
fishing up and down the channels at low tide for a couple of days, they eventually disappeared, and I
was unable to learn that any bred in the district. I often remarked that the birds seen so late in the
season exhibited a dark marking on the shoulder of the wing, somewhat similar though less plainly
defined than on the immature in autumn. It is prohahlo thai, like many other sca-fowl, this species
does not attain maturity at tin- age of one year; doubtless the stragglers are non-breeders, simply passing
the summer iu making a certain migratory movement towards the north anil subsequently working back
to their whiter-quarters•. On the 2nd of July, 1S79 (weather rough and frequent squalls of rain), a
pair of Sandwich Terns wen' observed living in an easterly direction abng the lieneh at Shoreham
This is a somewhat unusual date for Terns in this locality, and iu all probability the birds were
immature, though the distance at which they were seen precluded all hopes of carefully examining
their plumage.
In autumn Sandwich Terns arc to he uhserved fishing along almost every part of the eastern aud
southern coasts that I visited during the months of August, September, and October. Stormy weather
appears to set these birds in motion; during gales of wind iu September aud October 187« Hiey
proved unusually abundant in the Firth of Forth, flocks numbering from ten or a dozen up to twenty
or thirty being often in view flapping either cast or west along Ihc coast. As no breeding-stations
were then tenanted in the Firth, it is probable that these birds had worked round the shore from
the Fern Islands. 1 also uoliiitl several small parlies just olf the parade at Penzance on the morning
of tbe Nth of October, 1*MI, hovering over the broken water as the swell subsided after the terrific seas
that had rulled into Mounts Bay at daybreak i. For a few days after the gale Terns, principally of this
species, were making their way along the coast towards the west, the last (a bird with an almost white
head, resolutely refusing to approach within range) that came under my notice that season being observed
fishing otf the harlwur at Lamorna Cove on the 5th of November. On the 3rd of September, 1883 (a
heavy gale from the .south-west), numbers of Sandwich Terns were sheltering in Shorcham hnrliour, and
* None of tbe adulU procured u FPETLNIINI during the unodin:; * .i--. u ,\!NL'ii,-,L lli, d.,1-1. in^rkii IT- on Tin. EHOULDTR.
t So liBuioiiduiiH «U« llio fotco of Ihc KOI rolling inlo tlio bnj mi that ilinustruui morning. Unit IHC breakers HfHttOf dai.lu-1 M
iW baUn. a building of lhm> .lnm> [lauding on tlic parade, and bunt into cluuJa of ijnv nl LEUT uuit; lot met IHC roof. I NATRBOD
Go- lulling l«m» Milim: IN (roiu ths oieii m fur lb* ruirvour; four IMMSM in making IHEIR MF in, bul the LA«t, aflir PAWING tlio