316 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



wing very much the look of swifts, and show great 

 power of flight in beating up against rough weather 

 which appears very congenial to them. 



Whether any of the " blue darrs " or " sterns," to 

 use their local names, which yearly come to us, would 

 remain to breed in Norfolk if they were protected may 

 be doubtful. There is no evidence that the species has 

 been wilfully exterminated from oar limits. That re- 

 result must be ascribed to agricultural improvements, 

 and especially to the drainage of places that alone were 

 suited to its habits, most likely on account of the insect 

 food which they afforded, for this appears to be neces- 

 sary, if not to the adults certainly to the young. The 

 persistency with which the black tern recurs yearly to 

 our shores is very remarkable, for nowadays it has no 

 regular breeding-resort of any consequence in the 

 British Islands, or even further to the northward, and 

 the fact seems to deserve more attention than it has 

 received from those who study the phenomena of migra- 

 tion. Meanwhile, the extirpation of our native race of 

 this beautiful and graceful bird remains to be deeply 

 deplored by every ornithologist, though it may convey 

 an instructive lesson to those who know how to use it. 



It is worthy of note that the local name of the black 

 tern differed in the eastern and western divisions of the 

 county. On the Broads it was the " blue darr," accord- 

 ing to Whitear and Lubbock, whereas in the Fen district 

 " stern" (pronounced starn) was used. In Lincolnshire, 

 on the other hand, it seems to have been " carr-swal- 

 low," or " carr-crow " — which last Willughby, on the 

 authority of his correspondent Johnson, writes " scare- 

 crow." 



STERNA LEUCOPTERA, Schinz. 



WHITE-WINGED BLACK TERN. 



The first recorded Norfolk specimen of this beautiful 

 tern was killed from among a flock of fifteen or twenty 

 black terns, on Horsey Mere, on the 17th May, 1853, and, 



