300 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Family LARID^. ' Genus Sterna. 



Sub-family STERNINAi.. 



SANDWICH TERN. 



Sterna cantiaca, Gmelin. 



Single Brooded. Laying season, middle of May to middle of 



June. 



British breeding area : The Sandwich Tern has 

 been exterminated as a breeding species from many 

 localities, partly by incessant egg collecting, and partly 

 by the rise of tourist resorts on once little frequented 

 parts of the coast where it nested. The most important 

 breeding-place in our islands is on the Fame Islands, 

 but even here it is much less abundant than formerly. 

 Twenty years ago I well remember bushels of its eggs 

 were sent from these islands into Sheffield for sale ! Small 

 colonies still exist on Walney Island, off the Lancashire 

 coast, and at Ravenglass in Cumberland ; a few pairs 

 breed in the Solway district, on Loch Lomond, in the 

 Firth of Tay, on the coast of Elgin, and perhaps in 

 Sutherland. In Ireland it is known to breed sparingly 

 in Co. Mayo, on an island in a moor loch some miles 

 from the sea. 



Breeding habits : The Sandwich Tern is a summer 

 migrant to the British Islands, reaching our coasts during 

 April and May. The favourite breeding-haunts of this 

 beautiful Tern are low rocky or sandy islands, covered 

 with a good growtii of campion, thrift, and long grass, 

 but varied here and there with patches of bare ground, 

 and with a beach of rough shingle. Similar conditions 

 are chosen on the mainland in some secluded part of 

 the coast, but everywhere an island is preferred. The 

 birds doubtless pair for life, and continue to visit certain 



