LETTER VII 



Terns Tulips Robin's Nest Nightingales Rook Shooting 

 Thrushes' Nest Sedge Warbler Landrail. 



1 6/7* May 1886. 



DEAR MARCO Many thanks for your in- 

 teresting and prompt reply to my last letter. 

 I have now no doubt about the birds in 

 question being terns. Your description 

 tallies exactly with what I saw, and though 

 I did not notice their tails, I remember that 

 the general aspect of their wings and tails 

 was that they were long and pointed. The 

 smaller and darker bird may have been a 

 sooty tern, which I believe is scarce in 

 England. I see by the papers the floods 

 have been very high in the Severn valley 

 (the highest since 1837), and it is quite 

 possible, as the winds have been west and 



