BLACK'TERN 649 



are black ; its wings ash-coloured ; its tail a little forked ; 

 its feet small and red." (Will. " Orn." 1678, p. 354.) 

 Thomas Allis, 1844, wrote : 



Sterna nigra. Black Tern A specimen was shot at Kirkstall, 

 near Leeds, in 1842 ; it is occasionally obtained about Sheffield, J. 

 Heppenstall has a specimen shot in the centre of the town ; it occurs 

 near Barnsley, Hebden Bridge, and Huddersfield ; a pair was shot 

 at the Foss Islands, close by York, in 1841 ; A. Strickland remarks 

 that it used to breed near some of the streams at Driffield, but 

 has not done so now for some years. 



The Black Tern, according to Allis's friend and corres- 

 pondent, Arthur Strickland, used to breed in the East Riding 

 near Driffield, but is now only a visitant in spring and autumn ; 

 on the coast it is observed passing north in May at Spurn 

 and Flamborough ; off Redcar two were seen four miles 

 out at sea on 23rd May 1882, in company with a flock of the 

 common kind, and individuals occasionally linger on the Tees 

 marshes until late in May ; several were noted at Spurn 

 on the 25th of that month, and in mid- June, 1881, whilst 

 one was seen on Hornsea Mere on I2th June 1882, but there 

 is no evidence that it now nests in the county. The return 

 migration takes place in late summer ; five were flying 

 with the Little Terns at Spurn on 26th July 1887, and in 

 August small numbers, chiefly consisting of immature birds, 

 are observed at sea, associating with their larger relatives, 

 where they remain until late in September ; a late record being 

 30th September 1892, when one was obtained off Redcar. 



The Black Tern also occurs regularly in spring and autumn 

 on the river Hull near Beverley ; on the Driffield streams 

 it has been observed in early summer in full breeding plumage ; 

 and it has been reported from Walton Park and other inland 

 places, as mentioned by Allis. 



A remarkable spring migration has been noticed at the 

 end of April or early in May at Hemsworth Dam, near Ack- 

 worth, by Mr. Leonard Gill, now of the Newcastle Museum, 

 who states (in litt.) that he first saw them in 1893, when nearly 

 a thousand passed from west to east.* They were subsequently 



* Mr. J. H. Gurney observed them in Norfolk a day later. 



