70 THE TERNS 



tern nests only on sandy and shingly beaches, and not on rocky islands. Scattered 

 colonies may be found along our eastern and southern coasts from Teesmouth and 

 the Spurn southward, but it no longer breeds in Northumberland. On the west side 

 colonies exist in Cornwall, Wales, the Isle of Man, and the Cumbrian coasts, but in 

 Scotland it is local, though known to breed in S.-W. Scotland, Tiree, and the Outer 

 Hebrides, as well as in the Orkneys, and on the east side reported as common and 

 increasing from Tay to Dee by Mr. Harvie-Brown. The Haddingtonshire colony, 

 however, is now deserted. In Ireland, though much less numerous than the common 

 and Arctic terns, there are many colonies on the coasts of Leinster, Ulster, and 

 Connaught. On the Continent it breeds in Denmark, in Sweden on the coasts of 

 Skane, Oland, and Gotland, in Russia only south of Esthonia and the Perm govern- 

 ment. South of these limits its range extends to the Mediterranean ; and it is known 

 to breed in the Canaries and Madeira, along the North African coast, in the Balearic 

 Isles, Sicily, Greece, Asia Minor, and Cyprus (occasionally) to the Black and Caspian 

 Seas. On the Syrian coast and Lower Egypt it is replaced by the black-shafted form, 

 but in Asia it occurs in the S. Tobolsk and Turgai governments and at Barnaul and 

 on the middle Irtysh, while it is also said to have bred in Northern India, but on 

 the Indian coast it is replaced by the black-shafted form. Other allied species 

 replace it in North and South America. On migration it is found in Asia as far as 

 Burma, the Malay Peninsula, and even in Java, while in Africa it certainly occurs in 

 Gambia, Nigeria, and the Gold Coast, and is said to have once been obtained in 

 Cape Colony. [F. c. B. J.] 



3. Migration. A summer visitor. In Kent a few birds have been seen as 

 early as April 9, and a fair number generally appear about the 20th, but the majority 

 of these pass on. The majority of the Kentish breeding birds arrive towards the 

 end of April and the beginning of May (cf. Ticehurst, B. of Kent, p. 504). In 

 1910, little-terns arrived at the Blakeney colony (Norfolk) on April 26 (cf. Q. E. 

 Gurney, Zoologist, 1911, p. 174). Their usual time for appearing at Spurn Point 

 is the end of April (cf. O. Grabham, British Birds, ii. 319), as also in N. Wales 

 (cf. Forrest, Fauna of N. Wales, p. 376) ; but in Ireland they are rather later 

 (Ussher and Warren, Birds of Ireland, p. 326). They frequently do not appear 

 on the Scottish coasts till the second week of May. The first arrivals have 

 appeared in recent years between the 5th and 20th May. Most of the birds 

 leave their breeding-grounds in August. The southward migration takes place 

 chiefly in September, there being few birds seen about our coasts after the end 

 of that month. [A. L. T.] 



