LITTLE TERN 423 



Grain. Writing in 1844, the Rev. J. Pemberton Bartlett 

 states that this species was " common in Romney 

 Marsh." 



Mr. F. D. Power, in his notes on the birds of Eainham, 

 1868, says: " We had an immature specimen brought to 

 us ahve on September 11 ; it was discovered inside the 

 sea-wall, and was caught with dilhculty. Very common 

 here." 



Mr. J. Gould, in his Birds of Great Britain, says : 

 " During a visit to Dungeness on June 12, 1864, I saw 

 many sitting on their two eggs ; none were then hatched, 

 but two young birds were sent to me from thence on 

 the 22nd." 



In Captain Boyd Alexander's notes from Eomney 

 Marsh, 1896, he says " Of the two species of Terns 

 breeding here, the Common and Lesser, the latter is by 

 far the more numerous. But the numbers of both have 

 sadly diminished of late years. Both species keep 

 separate in their breeding haunts, the Lesser Tern pre- 

 ferring rather the close proximity of the sea." In 1900, 

 Mr. Hepburn makes the following observations on this 

 species on the beach at Dungeness : May 10 to 14 : " Com- 

 mon about the beach, but not yet started laying. June 

 3 to 4 : Found them nesting in small companies in a good 

 many places on the beach. They seem to choose places 

 where the shingle is small and comparatively fine, and 

 often do not even trouble to make the usual slight scratch- 

 out, laying their eggs in a chance depression, such as 

 footsteps. The nests in these colonies were generally 

 rather closer together than in the case of the Common 

 Tern, say about 8 to 10 yards apart. There was no 

 real attempt at lining any of the nests I saw, although 

 they occasionally had an odd blade of grass in them. 



