244 SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE. 



and June, as well as during the autumnal 

 months. ' 



COMMON TERN or SEA SWALLOW, Sterna hirun- 

 do. Provincial, Skiff. The wide-spreading bed 

 of shingle near Pevensey Bay, between East- 

 bourne and Bexhill, is still the resort of many 

 species of terns during the breeding-season ; but 

 they are not so numerous as they used to be, pro- 

 bably in consequence of the vast number of their 

 eggs that have been taken during the summer, 

 the sale of which amounted a few years ago 

 almost to a regular traffic. I have heard that a 

 person, who lived at that time near Bexhill, had 

 a peculiar breed of dogs a sort of cross, as I un- 

 derstand, between a setter and a water-spaniel 

 which he trained to hunt for the eggs of terns, 

 ring-dotterels, and lapwings : and valuable coad- 

 jutors they proved. Quartering the ground like a 

 pointer or setter, and taking advantage of the 

 direction of the wind in the same manner, they 

 would draw gradually towards the spot where the 

 eggs of a tern had been deposited whether the 

 bird was at home or not and drop within a yard 

 of them. Such assistance must have greatly 

 lessened the labour of egg-hunting on this stony 

 desert, for it is generally a tedious process as I 

 know by experience requiring much patience and 

 long practice, so nearly do the eggs, both in colour 



