2 88 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



The mode of fishing adopted by the Gannet 

 •when following a shoal of herrings or pilchards 

 has been well described by Robert Chambers {ZooL, 

 1875, p. 4342). The device of capturing these birds 

 by fixing a fish on a floating board, on which they 

 dive and break their necks, is a very ancient one, 

 and is repeatedly mentioned by old writers. See 

 Willughby's " Ornithology," p. 349. 



The weight of a Gannet is about 8| lbs. 



Order XIV. GAVIiE 



Fam. LARID^. 



COMMON TERN. Sterna fiuviatilis,N aumsinn. PI. 33, 

 fig. 1. Length, 14-25 in.; bill, 1*75 in. ; wing, 10-5 in.; 

 tarsus, 0-85 in. 



This bird was long regarded as the Sterna 

 hirundo of Linnseus ; but the species described by 

 him under that name is evidently the Arctic Tern, 

 as may be inferred from his description of the bill : — 

 ''rostrum suhulatum, versus apicem compressum, 

 rectum., coccineum, uti et pedes." 



It is a summer visitor to this country, generally 

 arriving in the second week of May, and breeding 

 on sandy shores and shingle beds all round the 

 coast of England and Scotland, as far north as Skye 

 on the west, and the Fame Islands and the Moray 

 Firth on the east. Beyond this it comes into com- 

 petition with the Arctic Tern, with which species 

 it is found in the Outer Hebrides, as well as in 

 Orkney. As a summer visitor to Scotland it is to 



