4*20 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



On October 3, 1867, Mr. A. H. Sime writes: "I 

 had the good fortune to obtain a fine specimen of this 

 Tern, a young male in immature pUimage, in the Lower 

 Hope, near Gravesend. It was flying at the time in 

 company with four or five others of the common variety. 

 I had seen them flying about the yacht for more than 

 half an hour before they came within shot." 



Mr. G. F. Mathew, writing from Sheerness, Sep- 

 tember 16, 1869, says : " The late gales have driven a 

 number of Terns into the Medway ; on Sunday last I 

 saw a flock of thirty or forty busily engaged fishing 

 within a very short distance of our sea-w'all. As far as 

 I could judge they were all of the same species, viz., 

 Sterna arctica." 



Mr. T, Hepburn, in his notes on the birds at Dunge- 

 ness, in 1902, says : "I suppose there is a possibility of 

 a few Arctic Terns {S. macriira) breeding on the beach. 

 I watched a pair of them for some time one afternoon 

 fishing in the outer bight of a kettle-net. They came so 

 close to me that I was plainly able to distinguish the 

 grey colouring of the breast and flanks." 



TEEN. 



Sterna fiuviatilis, Nauinann. Isis, 1819, p. 1848. 

 Sea- Swallow ; Kip. 



During the summer this Tern, usually called the 

 Common Tern, is to be seen along the coast and all the 

 estuaries of Kent, skimming and hovering over the water 

 in search of food, dropping like a stone every now and 

 again to pick up a dainty morsel from the ripples. 



