230 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 
shot by the person who discovered them ; the other two, 
on the death of their companion, immediately took to 
flight, and were not seen again. 
Several members of the graceful family of the terns 
have frequently been noticed in our neighbourhood. A 
pair of the Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) visited our 
village on August 12th, 1857, and were flying up and 
down the stream, as if hawking for insects, at times 
skimming close to the water, and then rising again with 
all that elegant ease of motion and command of wing 
for which they are noted. But alas! their visit was cut 
short by the miller who lived close by, who shot one of 
them, which proved to be a male, and the other, which 
doubtless was its mate, was not seen again. 
The Lesser Tern (S. minuta) has been seen éovebet 
times on Thoresby Lake, and once or twice the Black 
Tern (S. nigra) has been in company. One of the 
latter species was shot out of a flock which was seen on 
the Trent, near Nottingham, in June, 1851; and, 
singularly enough, several made their appearance at the 
little village of Wilford, on the Trent (the scene of my 
schoolboy days), during a severe snowstorm in January, 
1854. 
I have noted four species of gulls which have been 
seen at various times and in various parts of our district, 
some of them occurring not unfrequently. | 
A Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus) was shot 
by a boy at the village of Boughton, two miles from 
Ollerton, on June 2nd, 1854, and was brought to me. 
It was a male in nearly mature plumage, the dark brown 
on the head and upper part of the neck being quite per- 
fect, but the scapulars and wing coverts retained some 
slight mottling of brown, and the tail its dusky tips, 
