Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Iviii. (1914), No. 0. 29 



The Woodcock is an 

 Scolopax rusticola Linnaeus. autumn and winter 



visitor to the coverts 

 which border on the mere, and it feeds in the brooks and 

 ditches which run into the mere. It is possible that a pair 

 may nest occasionally ; we have seen the bird so late as 

 April. 



The Black Tern 

 Hydi'OcJielidon nigra nigra (Linnaeus), is a fairly regu- 

 lar spring and 

 autumn passage visitor to the Cheshire meres, but it has 

 seldom been noticed at Rostherne. Mr. J. J. Cash saw 

 two feeding over the water on August 1st, 1887, and in 

 191 1 one, an adult bird, remained about the mere from 

 April 20th to the 30th. 



It is not always easy to 

 Sterna hirnndo Linnaeus. identify the terns which 



Sterna paradisaea Brlinnich. which appear on migra- 

 tion on our inland 

 waters, but two which were flying over Rostherne on 

 April 29th, 1908, but did not come near enough to be 

 distinctly seen, were very likely Common Terns, for on 

 the same date two or three out of five which were at 

 Marbury Mere were certainly referable to this species, 

 having well-marked black tips to their bills. A bird, 

 however, which remained for two or three days at the end 

 of July and beginning of August, 1912, was undoubtedly 

 an Arctic Tern, as were two which we saw over the water 

 on May 19th, 191 3. These birds at times feed upon 

 insects which fly above the water, stooping for them and 

 picking them up after the manner of the Black Tern, but 

 they also dive for something just below the surface and 

 the quarry in this case is probably small fish. 



