70 FAUNA OF NORTH WALES 



220.— ARCTIC TERN. Sterna paradiscea. Brtiiin. 



Distribution similar to that of the Common Tern, but breeds almost 

 exclusively on the Skerries and off Rhoscolyn. 



There is evidence that occasionally both the Common and 

 Arctic Tern will stray on to each other's breeding grounds. 

 This is shown by the above details in regard to the Common 

 Tern on the Skerries, whilst in July, 1911, I identified three pairs 

 of Arctic Terns amongst the Common Terns at Llanddwyn. 

 Eyton's statement, which is called in question in the Fauna 

 of North Wales, was therefore possibly correct after all. Li 

 1915 Messrs. Cummings and Oldham found Arctic Terns nesting 

 on the sandhills on the Carnarvonshire side of Aber Menai. 

 In August, 1917, the colony there consisted of many Common 

 ajid a few Arctic Terns. 



Note. — It apjiears from the foregoing and other details 

 that all the species of Tern are apt to change their breeding 

 grounds more or less from year to year, though the Arctic 

 Tern shows a more decided preference for islands than the 

 others, the colony at Aber ]Menai being the only one on the 

 mainland. None of the Terns breed on Bardsey (Ticehurst). 



221.— LITTLE TERN. Sterna albifrons albifrons PaU. 



Summer migrant, common on the coast ; many breeding colonies on fiat 

 shores in all the maritime counties, especially in the west. 



The breeding colony at Point of Air is old-established, for Mr. 

 H. Ecroyd Smith recorded it in a paper entitled " A day among 

 the bird-breeders at Point of Air " in 1866 {Zoologist, 1866, 100). 

 Other species mentioned as breeding there were the Ringed 

 Plover, Oyster Catcher, Sheld-duck, and Stock Dove. He 

 also found a colony the previous year at the eastern end of the 

 jMenai Straits, several nests containing four eggs which he 

 believed were not the produce of two hens. In this, however 

 he was probably mistaken. According to the Migration Reports, 

 eggs were found at Point of Air as early as 13th May, 1913. 

 Th(; colony there has increased greatly in recent years. In 

 1915 Mr. S. G. Cummings thought that it was probably the 

 largest in North Wales. There was also another large colony 

 about three miles oft' towards Prestatyn. 



221a.— SOOTY TERN. Sterna fuscata L. 



One obtained Barmouth. 



On 17th August, 1909, a male was knocked over by a boy with 

 a stick on the Barmouth Golf Links. It was set up by ]Mr. 



