166 THE BIRDS OF OXFORDSHIRE. 



THE SANDWICH TERN. 



Sterna cantiaca. 

 The Sandvv^icli Tern is a rare visitor. The Messrs. Mat- 

 thews mention, on the authority of Dr. Kirtland, that one was 

 shot near Oxford on the 24th Ang-ust, 1847^ and also that it 

 had been killed on Otmoor. The Hon. T. L. Powjs (now 

 Lord Lilford) recorded the occurrence of three adult specimens, 

 which were shot on the Isis near Oxford, on the 33rd April, 

 1853 {Zoologist, p. 3946), and another found in a small bird- 

 stuffer's shop in Clifton Hampden, near where it was said to 

 have been shot in 1879, was exhibited at a meeting of the 

 Oxfordshire Natural History Society, in November, 1882, by 

 the Rev. H. A. Macpherson. 



THE ROSEATE TERW. 



Sterna dougalU. 



The Roseate Tern is a rare visitor. Mr. Thomas Prater, 

 of Bicester, in a note dated 17th August, 1848, has recoi-ded 

 that a fine specimen was shot on a large piece of water in 

 Tusmore Park, and was then in the hands of Mr. Osman, the 

 Oxford bird-stuffer (^Zoologist, p. 2231), and Mr. T. Goatley 

 informed the Messrs. Matthews that this beautiful species 

 had twice been killed on the Isis, near Oxford {ib., p. 2624). 



THE COMMON TERN. '^i^ 



Sterna fluviatilis. 

 The Common Tern is a frequent visitor at the periods of 

 migration, at which times it is its habit to wander up rivers. 

 It is therefore naturally more frequently met with on the Isis 

 and Thames than in other parts of the county, yet it often 

 strays up the Cherwell valley to the extreme north. From 

 the latter end of April its visits may be looked for, and in 

 May small flocks even have sometimes been seen gracefully 

 playing in the air over the Thames, but it is not often 

 observed after that month, though instances of its occurrence 



