568 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
Family Laripe. 
The family at which I have now arrived, the 
Laridz or Gulls, might, I think, be conveniently 
divided into three—the Terns, the Gulls and the 
Petrels: as it is, however, it contains aS many as 
forty-one British species, and twenty-eight of these 
must be included amongst the Birds of Somerset. 
Common Turn, Sterna Hirundo. The first on my 
list, the Common Tern, is only an occasional spring 
and early autumn visitor to our coast: it does, how- 
ever, sometimes make its appearance further inland, 
as it has been found as far from the sea as Bath.* 
The autumnal visitors are generally a mixture of 
young and old birds on their return from their 
breeding stations. 
I do not believe any of these birds ever remain 
to breed in our county, although parts of the coast 
would appear to be well suited to that purpose, and 
a few of them do breed on the coast of the neigh- 
bouring county of Dorset.t Wherever their breeding 
station is, they do not appear to trouble themselves 
much with making a nest, the eggs being placed in a 
hollow on the bare ground, or occasionally amongst 
* Montagu’s Dictionary, by Newman. 
+ ‘ Zoologist’ for 1865, p. 9676. 
