BLACK TERN. L09
one also at Kirks tall, near Leeds, in the year 1842. Two on the
Foss Islands, close to York, in 1841. In Worcestershire, two near
"Worcester, on or about the 12th. of November, 1849. Six of these
birds were shot in October, 1849, at Swanpool, Falmouth, Cornwall.
A pair at Chertsey, in Surrey, the end of May in the same year;
others at Frensham Pond, near (iodalming; at Weybridgc, one on the
10th. of August, 1841, aud one the 12th. of May, 1842, the latter out
of a flock of about twenty. In Berkshire, at Windsor. In Oxfordshire
this species is occasionally found, generally in immature plumage,
but adult specimens have been obtained near Oxford and on Otmoor;
two, both adult males, on Port Meadow, near Oxford, in May, 1848;
others had been procured there previously. \\ illiam Felkin, Esq.,
Junior, of Carrington, near Nottingham, has written me word that a
flock were seen near the latter town, on the River Trent, in June,
1851, and one of them shot; and also some others in January, 1854,
during the severe snow-storm of that month, at Wilfbrd, near there.
Another, Mr. John Shaw informs me, was killed at AVroxetcr, on the
Severn, in May, 1853. The Hon. T. L. Powys has met with several
in Northamptonshire, on the River None, near Thrapstone.
I n Scotland, one was shot at Coldstream, Berwickshire, the beginning
of July, 1851. One had previously been obtained in East Lothian.
In Ireland it occurs as an occasional straggler. Some have been
observed by the River Shannon, near Dublin, and in the county of
Clare, and Sir William J a r dine says there is a breeding-place at Roxburgh,
near Middleton, in the county of Cork.
These Terns frequent, for the most part, low and flat watery grounds,
morasses, bogs, fens, and pools.
They migrate chiefly by night, flying at a great elevation, but otherwise,
if following the course of a river, low down. ' When this bird
rests on the ground, it carries its head with the neck shortened, its
breast lowered, and its body in a horizontal position, with its wings
crossed one over the other, and carried considerably above the tail.'
The time of their arrival is in April or the beginning of May, and
that of their departure early in October. One was seen by Montagu
so late as the beginning of November, 1802.
In Italy, thousands of these birds are sold in the markets for food.
The powers of flight of this species are equally great with those
of the others. Flocks have been seen in the middle of the Atlantic
Ocean. 'Nil moror' is their motto, in disregard of the longest journey,
and distance forms no part of their calculations in setting out. Meyer
says that it has frequently been observed that the Black Tern is
so exceedingly quick and dexterous on the wing, that Hawks find it