LARID^. 



633 



THE BLACK TERN. 



HVDROCHELIDON NIGRA (LinnSBUs). 



The Black Tern was a regular spring-visitor to England before 

 drainage had done away with most of the fens and morasses to 

 which it used to resort for breeding-purposes ; but even in Norfolk 

 the last eggs on record were taken as long ago as 1858, though early 

 in this century the nests of the " Blue Darr," as the bird was called, 

 might have been found by hundreds on the alder-swamps. In 

 Lincolnshire a pair or two of the " Car-Swallow," may occasionally 

 be seen in summer ; but otherwise this species chiefly frequents our 

 eastern and southern coasts, rivers, and inland waters in April and 

 early May, rarely reaching to the north of the Aire and the Humber ; 

 while in August the young begin to make their appearance, and a few 

 birds remain in the south-west as late as November. In the west of 

 England it is rare, even on the marshes of the Sohvay, where, how- 

 ever, its eggs are said to have been taken in 1855 ; and though it 

 has been met with on the Firth of Forth and other parts of the 

 lowlands of Scotland, as well as on Loch Lomond, it is as yet 

 unknown in the Hebrides or the Orkneys. The irregular occurrences 

 recorded from Ireland are chiefly those of immature birds in autumn. 



As a straggler the Black Tern was obtained in the Faeroes in 



