A BIRDLQVER'S YEAR 



tection is afforded to these birds, there 

 exists a large colony of Sandwich terns, but 

 in other localities they are becoming scarcer 

 and scarcer. This is partly owing to the 

 shore-shooter and to the greed of the 

 " collector." The latter individual has been 

 severely and justly anathematized of late ; 

 every egg collector should be chary in 

 the extreme of taking the eggs of those 

 species of birds which are yearly becoming 

 rarer. 



Besides these species of terns, there are 

 other very rare visitors. 



The Caspian Tern, the Gull-billed Tern, and 

 the Black Tern have been recorded in Britain, 

 whilst the whiskered tern, white-winged 

 black tern, sooty tern, lesser sooty tern, 

 and noddy are all rare stragglers. These 

 three last hail from the tropics. 



The gulls as a sub-family are characterized 

 by having the upper mandible of the beak 

 longer than the lower, whilst the tail is 

 usually squared. 



The Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) is the 

 smallest of the British breeding gulls, and 

 is to be found from Cornwall north to St. 



87 



