498 LARID,E. 



summer visiter here, appearing in spring and departing in 

 autumn, after having reared the yearly brood. Of this spe- 

 cies in Ireland, Mr. Thompson remarks that it is annually 

 shot upon the coast, and may perhaps have breeding- 

 haunts in some of the islets that are rarely visited by the 

 naturalist. It has been noticed in Cornwall and Devon- 

 shire. Mr. Plomley says it breeds on the shingle banks 

 about Romney Marsh in Kent ; and I have seen it on 

 Sandwich Flats and at Ramsgate. Mr. Parsons has taken 

 the eggs near some salterns at the mouth of Blackwater 

 river in Essex. The birds are not uncommon on the 

 coasts of Suffolk and Norfolk ; I possess both old and young 

 birds killed near Sunderland in the second week in August ; 

 and Mr. Selby has particularly noticed their annual visits 

 to the Farn Islands, and to Coquet Island, a few miles to 

 the southward. " Here a station is selected apart from 

 other species, generally on a higher site, and the nests are 

 so close to each other, as to render it difficult to cross the 

 ground without breaking the eggs, or injuring the unfledged 

 young. Upon this coast it is called, par excellence, c the 

 Tern,' all the other species passing under the general name 

 of ' Sea Swallows.' Its habits strongly resemble those of 

 its genus, and it subsists upon similar kinds of fish, the 

 sand-launce and young gar-fish forming the principal 

 supply. Its flight is strong and rapid, and, except 

 when engaged in incubation, it is almost constantly 

 on the wing, uttering at intervals a hoarse and grating cry, 

 which can be heard at a very great distance, and gives 

 notice of its approach long before it is discoverable by the 

 eye. If much disturbed by being fired at, or if the eggs be 

 repeatedly taken at the commencement of the season, it 

 deserts the station first selected, and retires to some 

 other place. The eggs of this bird are three or four in 



