so Lost British Birds. 



IX. BLACK TEEN Sterna nigra. This most aerial and 

 elegant bird of the sea and inland waters was once exces- 

 sively abundant in the fen country, where it bred annually, 

 and has been lost to us as a summer resident almost within 

 the memory of men still living. " Blue dorr " was its local 

 name in the Norfolk Broad district ; in Lincolnshire it was 

 called " carr-s wallow " and " carr-crow." Turner (Historia 

 Avium, 1 548) spoke of its excessive clamour during the breed- 

 ing season, which was enough to deafen those who lived near 

 the lakes and marshes it frequented. Pennant, describing the 

 East fen, visited by him in 1769, speaks of the Black Tern 

 in great flocks, almost deafening one with their clamour. 

 Kichard Lubbock, about 1818, wrote, "it breeds in myriads 

 at Upton," near Acle, Norfolk. It ceased to breed in that 

 county about 1835, from what cause is not accurately 

 known. In 1832 it was still breeding in immense numbers 

 in Crowland Wash, Lincolnshire. In 1853 some birds re- 

 turned, and two or three nests were found in Hockwold Fen. 

 In 1858 a solitary pair bred at Button, Norfolk, laying two 

 eggs, which were taken and the birds shot. 



Thus ends the story of the Black Tern as a British resi- 

 dent species ; the few that revisit our shores stay not to 

 breed. The " great clamour " is a thing of the past. Many 

 of us would now gladly submit to be deafened by it. 



X. BITTERN Botaurus stellaris. This species, once 

 called the common bittern, and found in all suitable localities 

 in England, Scotland and Ireland, was one of the most 

 fascinating of the British birds on account of its solitary, 

 mysterious habits, its strange richly coloured and beautifully 

 pencilled plumage, and that booming cry, once familar in our 

 land, that " shakes the sounding marsh." This " boom," 

 which was uttered during the love season, is likened by those 

 who have heard it to the deep-toned bellowing of a bull. 

 People wondered how so vast a volume of sound could pro- 

 ceed from a bird of its size ; and superstitious persons, who 

 dwelt commonly within hearing of it, attributed the sound 



