247 



GULL-BILLED TERN. 



Stekna anglica, Montagu. 



The late Dr. Skaife stated (Mar/. Nat. Hist., ii. p. 530, 

 1838) that he had a specimen shot at Blackpool in the 

 summer of 1832. 



SANDWICH TEEN. 



Sterna cantiaca, J. F. Gmelm. 



Local Na:mes— 6>ar/i»^, Kek-Sicallow, Kck, Shrike. 



The Sandwich Tern is the last, and almost the rarest, 

 of those of its genus which breed in Lancashire. 

 Like them, it is only a summer visitor, and, except after 

 severe storms, is seldom seen elsewhere than in the 

 immediate vicinity of its breeding-ground on Walney. 

 There, nesting as it does, close to the colony of Black- 

 headed Gulls at the north end, it has long been strictl}^ 

 protected, but in spite of this it appears to decrease 

 rather than increase, although, following the Gulls, a 

 few pairs have of late years frequented the south end of 

 the island. It lays earlier than the other Terns, and 

 Mr. \V. A. Durnford (Zool., 1880, p. 241) saw two 

 nests, each with two eggs in, on May 25th in that year, 

 whilst he states ( Zool., 1878) that on June 21st, 1877, 

 he came across a young one almost ready to fly. Mr. 

 J. E. Harting thus describes (Zool., 1864) a visit he 

 paid to the colony on Walney on May 30, 1864 : " As we 

 approached they rose perpendicularly to a great height, 

 keeping up a succession of harsh screams, not unlike 



