224 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



draining and reclamation of its former breeding- 

 haunts in the fens of East Anglia, this species is 

 becoming comparatively rare, I remember to have 

 frequently noticed it about our river in my boy- 

 hood, and it is still an occasional visitor to our 

 county. 



I was informed by the late John Hancock, of 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne, that several eggs of this species 

 were collected in 1843 at Whittlesea Mere, and sent 

 to him by his friend H. W. Wheelwright (" Old 

 Bushman," of the ' Field ' newspaper), who, if I 

 am not mistaken, was a Northamptonshire man by 

 residence at the time, if not by birth. Whittlesea 

 knows the Black Tern, alas ! no more as a nesting- 

 bird ; but it may be that a hereditary instinct still 

 prompts the visits of these migrants to their ancestral 

 haunts, whither and whence they wander along the 

 courses of our river and others in the spring and 

 autumn months. 



Mr. H. S. O'Brien informs me that his lake at 

 Blatherwycke is occasionally visited by small parties 

 of this species, and specially mentioned 1869, 1870, 

 and April 3, 1874, as dates of these visitations. 

 I have six specimens of the Black Tern in my 

 collection, of which number two immature birds 

 were shot by me near Thrapston on October 3, 1853, 

 three in perfect adult plumage by one of our game- 

 keepers, from a flock of thirty or more, below Lilford, 

 on April 23, 1886, and another in moult, shot by a 

 friend near Aldwincle on July 19, 1888. 



Several other authentic records of the appearance 

 of this species in Northamptonshire have reached me, 

 and many more of " Terns " without any specification, 

 some of which very probably referred to this bird ; 



