166 THE BIRDS OF CUMBERLAND. 



yet, had they not been so much persecuted. A few 

 birds as late as 1882 frequented the locahty, but, 

 being repeatedly fired at, at length deserted the 

 place. In 1885, the first Lesser Terns arrived at 

 Ravenglass on May 1st, wind southerly. In 1885, 

 also, we found a good many nests, containing fresh 

 eggs, generally two in a clutch, on May 29th. The 

 nest is a depression in the sand or on the shingle, 

 at no distance from the water. It is frequently 

 lined w4th fragments of small shells, but some nests 

 have no lining. In 1884, we found a nest containing 

 a newly-hatched bird and a chipped egg, and a 

 second nest, with two newly-hatched nestlings, on 

 June 16th ; the other nests containing clutches of 

 two eggs and of three eggs, all apparently incubated. 



S. Cantiaca. Sandwich Tern. 



The Sandwich Tern is a summer visitant, a few 

 pairs nesting in a single locality on the Ravenglass 

 estuary. The exact date of the foundation of this 

 colony is uncertain, but its founders probably came 

 from Walney. Mr. Farren well recollects the arrival 

 of the first pairs. Now about seventeen pairs breed 

 there, the number increasing every year, the birds 

 being carefully protected by Lord Muncaster. In 

 1884, the Sandwich Terns arrived on the estuary 

 on April 23rd, and we examined seven downy 

 nestlings and several clutches of incubated eggs on 

 June 16th. In 1885, we examined a single nestling 

 in down (its fellow was just hatching out), on 

 May 29th, and fourteen clutches of eggs, some of 

 them fresh and others evidently much incubated. 



