LARIDiE. 253 



more numerous on Pevensey Shingle during May 

 and June than the last species. In fact, this bird 

 is here "the common tern/' and would appear 

 to be more generally distributed throughout the 

 British Islands than any of its congeners. In 

 May, 184-2, large flocks appeared almost simul- 

 taneously at Devonport, Bristol, and Gloucester, 

 and at various places on the coasts of Hamp- 

 shire, Sussex, and Kent. This tern may at once 

 be distino^uished from the so-called common tern 

 — with which it has evidently been frequently 

 confused — by the prevalent light grey colour of 

 the lower parts, which in the latter are of a 

 delicately pure white. The tarsi are also much 

 shorter. 



Gull-billed Tern, Sterna Anglica. A very 

 scarce and local visitor. First described by 

 Colonel Montagu, who obtained examples at 

 Rje. There is a specimen in my own collection 

 which was shot in that neighbourhood; and an- 

 other in the Chichester Museum which was killed 

 at Selsey on the 81st of March, 1852. 



Lesser Tern, Sterna minuta. Provincial, 

 Little Skiffl Of frequent occurrence at Pevensey 

 during the breeding-season and autumn. 



Black Tern, Sterna fissipes. A rare biid in 

 Sussex. Has occasionally been killed at the 

 period of the spring and autumnal migrations, 



