SANDWICH TERN. 299 



it may also have bred in this county within the memory 

 of the Pagets' contemporaries. 



The first recorded example of which I am aware is 

 mentioned in the Hooker MS. as " taken on Yarmouth 

 beach, in September, 1827." In Mr. Rising's MS. list of 

 birds in his collection, the Sandwich tern is mentioned 

 with the affix " Birds, 1829, R. R. ;" also " Horsey, 28th 

 September, 1830," both undoubtedly records of their 

 having been obtained there. Neither Messrs. Gurney 

 and Fisher, nor Mr. Lubbock, give any instances, 

 although the former say that it " sometimes occurs on 

 the coast in early spring and autumn ; " in the " Zoolo- 

 gist " for 1849, p. 2353, they, however, record the 

 occurrence of a Sandwich tern, at Lynn, in the end of 

 September, 1848. Dr. Babington mentions one in the 

 Dennis collection, killed at Yarmouth, on the 4th May, 

 1849 ; one was killed at Salthouse, in the summer of 

 1849, as I am informed, by Mr. Dowell; on the 6th 

 September, 1851, an example was shot at Hunstanton ; 

 Mr. Dowell also informs me that in the autumn of 

 the same year Overton saw several of these birds at 

 Blakeney, and shot some young ones. On July 22nd, 

 1853, Overton saw two in Blakeney harbour ; on April 

 28th, 1854, he also saw one in the Cley channel ; and on 

 August 18th, 1857, he shot two at Stiffkey freshes. An 

 adult and young bird of the year were killed at Yar- 

 mouth, on October 5th, 1857, the former, according to 

 Mr. Stevenson, just losing the black head of summer, 

 and the latter in the " striated " plumage, with also a 

 little black about the head. In 1862, Mr. Elhs, the bird 

 preserver, at Swaffham, showed Mr. Stevenson a fine 

 specimen shot by himself, at Hunstanton, some two or 

 three years before, in the month of July ; three or four 

 others were seen at the same time, but not knowing 

 their rarity he obtained only one. A male was shot at 

 Blakeney, on the 13th of August, 1862, which exhibited 

 a state of change between summer and winter plumage 

 (" Zoologist," 1863, p. 8332) ; an immature bird was 

 shot at Yarmouth, on 20th October, 1875 ; a female, 

 one of a pair seen on Breydon, was killed on the 8th 

 September, 1880; and on the 24th August, 1881, an 

 adult was shot on Breydon. 

 2p2 



