518 LARID.E. 



can- at Upton, where twenty years back hundreds u2)ou 

 hundreds of nests might be found at the end of May, has 

 been broken up for some years. The Blue Darr, as it is 

 provincially termed here, has in consequence become scarce. 

 Mr. Salmon told me that he got the eggs of this bird from 

 Crowlaud Wash, in Lincolnshire, within the last two or three 

 years. It can hardly be said at present to breed regularly 

 in Norfolk, a few straggling pairs only still nest here." 

 The breeding-places in Lincolnshire have also disappeared 

 before modern improvements, and of late years only a pair 

 or two have been known to nest sporadically in localities 

 which it is not necessary to expose to the exterminating 

 greed of the collector of purely * British-taken ' birds and 

 eggs. As a migrant it is not uncommon on the Humber 

 and on some parts of the Yorkshire coast, but northwards 

 its visits are comparatively rare. In Scotland it can only 

 be considered a straggler, principally, according to Mr. R. 

 Gray, to the east coast from Berwdck to Aberdeen, although 

 he has known it to occur on the lochs and sea-reaches 

 of the west, and on Loch Lomond. A solitary example is 

 recorded by Saxby as having been noticed many years ago 

 in Shetland, but it is not known to have visited Orkney. 

 To the marshes of the Solway it is a visitant, but does not 

 appear to have bred there, and along the w^estern side of the 

 island it is not very frequently observed. Being a fresh-water 

 species, it is from time to time observed on many inland 

 sheets of water, and on rivers ; in fact, it may annually be 

 observed on the upper reaches of the Thames, which seem 

 to lie in the direct line of its migrations. An adult bird 

 has sometimes been seen in July, but as a rule the imma- 

 ture migrants begin to pass early in August, leaving by 

 October : occasionally remaining in the south-w'est until 

 November. In April the return- passage commences, the 

 adult birds being then more or less in the nuptial plumage. 



In Ireland the Black Tern is of irregular occurrence, chiefly 

 in autumn, and in immature plumage ; on the west side it is 

 very rare, and Mr. Warren has only once observed a small 

 party in the estuary of the Moy ; nevertheless, many of the 



