A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE 



191. Roseate Tern. Sterna dougalli, Mon- 



tagu. 



A rare straggler noted in Garner's, Sir O. 

 Mosley's and E. Brown's lists but without 

 details. No recent occurrences. 



192. Common Tern. Sterna jtuviatilis, Nau- 



mann. 



An occasional visitor especially to the Trent 

 and Dove valleys. One shot at Swythamley 

 in 1862, and a flock visited Madeley Pool in 

 1889 (Birds of Staffordshire, p. 132). On the 

 Trent it is not uncommon, and large numbers 

 were seen in May 1842 (Nat. Hist, of Tut- 



v- 57)- 



193. Arctic Tern. Sterna macrura, Nau- 



mann. 



Another occasional visitor. ' Great num- 

 bers of this species visited North and South 

 Staffordshire in May, 1842' (R. Garner, p. 

 289). One taken near Hanley in September 

 1888 (Report North Sta/s Field Club, 1889, 

 p. 24). 



194. Little Tern. Sterna minuta, Linn. 

 One was killed at Drakelow on 1 7 Sep- 



tember, 1855 (Nat. Hist. ofTutbury, p. 57), 

 and another shot on the Trent near Burton 

 (Birds of Derbyshire, p. 220), and one at Tean 

 near Cheadle 5 August 1895, and one at Pipe 

 Gate in August 1902 (Reports North Staffs 

 Field Club}. 



195. Sooty Tern. Sterna fu/igmosa, J. F. 



Gmelin. 



A single specimen of this tropical species 

 was killed near Tutbury in 1852 and is now 

 in the collection at Drakelow near Burton- 

 on-Trent. This was the first record of the 

 appearance of this bird in England, though 

 two other instances have since been noted 

 (Nat. Hist, of Tutbury, pp. 57, 102). 



196. Little Gull. Larus minutus, Pallas. 

 Has been shot on the Trent in several 



places near Burton (McAldowie, p. 138). 



197. Black-headed Gull. Larus ridibundus, 



Linn. 



The most common of all the gulls seen in 

 the county, and this species once bred regularly 

 at Norbury near Eccleshall. Dr. McAldowie 

 says : ' The writings of Willoughby, Ray and 

 Plot have made this gullery the most famous 

 in the history of ornithology. No work on 

 Staffordshire would be complete without a 

 record of the writings relating to this interest- 

 ing breeding place.' Ray visited the colony 

 in 1662 and says : ' We diverted out of our 

 way to see the Puits which we judged to be 



a sort of Lari in a meer at Norbury, belong- 

 ing to Colonel Skrimshaw. They build 

 together in an islet in the middle of a pool 

 (Itin. pp. 216-7). 



Willoughby 's description states : ' Of this 

 kind also are those birds which yearly build 

 and breed at Norbury in Staffordshire in an 

 island in the middle of a great pool. . . . 

 When the young are almost come to their 

 full growth those entrusted by the Lord of the 

 soil drive them from off the island through the 

 pool into nets set on the banks to take them. 

 When they have taken them they feed them 

 with the entrails of beasts, and when they are 

 fat sell them for four pence or five pence 

 apiece. They take yearly about a thousand 

 two hundred young ones.' 



Plot says : ' But the strangest whole footed 

 water fowl that frequents this county is the 

 Larus cinereus Ornithologi, the Larus Anereus 

 tertius Aldrovandi and the Cepphus of Gesner 

 and Turner : in some counties called the 

 black cap, in others the sea or mire-crow, here 

 the pewit, which being of the migratory kind 

 come annually to certain pools in the estate of 

 the right worshipful Sir Charles Skrymsher, 

 Knight, to build and breed.' He then pro- 

 ceeds to describe in detail the arrival and 

 nesting of these birds as well as the method of 

 capture and disposal of the young, which 

 realized an annual profit of from 50 to j6o 

 at the rate of 5;. per dozen, ' they being 

 accounted a good dish at the most plentiful 

 tables.' 



Here they continued to breed for nearly a 

 hundred years after occasionally shifting their 

 ground until 1794, since which time scarcely 

 a bird has bred in the county. 



198. Common Gull. Larus canus, Linn. 

 An occasional visitor, generally in small 



flocks after stormy weather on migration. Sir 

 O. Mosley records the visit of a flock of over 

 100 to the pool at Rolleston (Nat. Hist, of 

 Tutbury, p. 57). Two were shot at Whiston 

 near Cheadle in September 1 888 (Report 

 North Sta/s Field Club, 1890, p. 22). 



199. Herring-Gull. Larus argentatus, J. F. 



Gmelin. 



Parties are occasionally seen passing over 

 the county, generally going north in early 

 spring. They have been observed in the 

 Trent and Dove valleys and also at Hanford^ 

 while one was shot at Swythamley in 1875. 



200. Lesser Black-backed Gull. Larus fuscus, 



Linn. 



A rather infrequent visitor to the Trent 

 valley, usually in immature plumage. An old 



I 5 8 



