SANDWICH TERN. 273 



of this species will be of great extent. Mr. Audu- 

 bon found it on the Florida Keys in the end of 

 May, and considered those which he procured there 

 as new to the North American Fauna, but there 

 and Charleston were the only parts where he met 

 with it. 



It is remarkable that the Sandwich Tern should 

 have remained so long unnoticed by our ornitho- 

 logists, for it is by no means an uncommon spe- 

 cies, although in Ireland, or the south of England, 

 it does not appear to have been so frequently 

 noticed. In the former, Mr. Thompson mentions 

 no breeding stations, but Mr. Yarrell has stated 

 on authority, that it breeds on Romney Marsh 

 and in the mouth of the Blackwater in Essex, locali- 

 ties differing from those in which we have else- 

 where seen them. On the north-eastern coast it 

 breeds abundantly on Coquet and the Farn Islands, 

 on the latter in great abundance ; further into the 

 Firth, we have it breeding on the Isle of May and 

 some lesser rocks off North Berwick. We have 

 seen it on the Solway also, but do not know of any 

 breeding station there ; and we have observed it on 

 the very northern coasts of Scotland in the month 

 of June. It has been on the Firth of Forth that 

 we have chiefly observed this tern ; on the Farn 

 Islands there is a large colony, which we have visited 

 in company with Mr. Selby. That gentleman states 

 that it has " selected a station apart from the other 

 species, generally on a higher site, and the nests are 

 so close to each other as to render it difficult to 



s 



