VOL. VI.] NOTES. 127 



Essex. They were adult birds, and flew several times 

 within a few yards of my boat, which was sailing mos,t 

 slowly as there was very little wind at the time. I thus 

 had an excellent view of the birds. The points which 

 particularly attracted my attention were the white tail 

 and upper and under tail-coverts. The light grey on the 

 wings, almost white at the shoulder, was also noticeable. 

 The mantle and rest of the body appeared to me a deep 

 black. Harry Becher. 



COMMON TERN IN SHROPSHIRE. 



On August 3rd, 1912, a Common Tern {Sterna kirundo) was 

 found floating on the Severn at Shrewsbviry. It was an 

 adult, dead, but quite fresh and in good plumage. It was 

 probabl}/^ blo^\^l inland by the rough wind the preceding 

 day. 



Another example was found dead at the Gat ten, Pontes bury, 

 a few days later. It was floating on a pond and had evi- 

 dently been dead some time. H. E. Forrest. 



EARLY DEPARTURE OF COMMON TERNS FROM 

 NESTING-SITES. 



In the last number of British Birds (p. 95) I pointed out 

 how the Common Terns were a full month late in arriving 

 on their breeding-grounds in Cumberland and north Lan- 

 cashire, and now find that, notwithstanding their late arrival, 

 they have all departed nearly a month earlier than usual. 

 On July 18th we visited the Ravenglass colony to find quite 

 half the eggs still unhatched, and only succeeded in ringing 

 eighty-eight young ones, yet on revisiting the place on 

 August 7th, less than three weeks afterwards, I was astonished 

 to find the ground deserted, only four pairs of adults, two 

 feathered young and an immature bird on the wing, being 

 seen on the whole ground. Since then I have heard that 

 they had practically all gone by August 1st. 



Thinking that there might be some local cause for their 

 early departure, I visited Walney Island two days later, on 

 August 9th, to find the same state of things there also, only 

 that I failed to see a single Tern either old or young. The 

 eggs had evidently hatched off, and the young taken flight 

 during the interval of twenty days between my two visits, 

 for no eggs remained either at Ravenglass or Walney, although 

 an unusual number of feathered young were found dead at 

 Ravenglass. As many of the eggs were quite fresh on 



