48 BLA.CK TETCN 1 . 



these birds were shot in October, 1849, at Swanpool, Fal- 

 mouth, Cornwall. A pair at Chertsey, in Surrey, the end 

 of May in the same year; others at Frensham Pond, near 

 Grodalming; at Weybridge, one on the 10th. of August, 

 1841, and one on the 12th. of May, 1842, the latter out 

 of a flock of about twenty. In Oxfordshire this species is 

 occasionally found, generally in immature plumage, but adult 

 specimens have been obtained near Oxford and on Otmoor; 

 two, both adult males, on Port Meadow, near Oxford, in 

 May, 1848; others had been procured there previously. 

 William Felkin, Esq., Junior, of Carrington, near Notting- 

 ham, has written me word that a flock were seen near the 

 latter town, on the River Trent, in June, 1851, and one of 

 them shot; and also some others in January, 1854, during 

 the severe snow-storm of that month, at Wilford, near there. 

 Another, Mr. John Shaw informs me, was killed at Wroxeter, 

 on the Severn, in May, 1853. The Hon. T. L. Powys has 

 met with several in Northamptonshire, on the River Nene, 

 near Thrapstone. 



In Scotland, one was shot at Coldstream, Berwickshire, 

 the beginning of July, 1851. One had previously been 

 obtained in East Lothian. 



In Ireland it occurs as an occasional straggler. Some have 

 been observed by the River Shannon, and Sir William Jardine 

 says there is a breeding-place at Roxburgh, near Middleton, 

 in the county of Cork. 



These Terns frequent, for the most part, low and flat 

 watery grounds, morasses, bogs, fens, and pools. 



They migrate chiefly by night, flying at a great elevation, 

 but otherwise, if following the course of a river, low down. 

 'When this bird rests on the ground, it carries its head 

 with the neck shortened, its breast lowered, and its body in 

 a horizontal position, with its wings crossed one over the 

 other, and carried considerably above the tail.' The time of 

 their arrival is in April or the beginning of May, and that 

 of their departure early in October. One was seen by 

 Montagu so late as the beginning of November, 1802. 



In Italy, thousands of these birds are sold in the markets 

 for food. 



The powers of flight of this species are equally great with 

 those of the others. Flocks have been seen in the middle of 

 the Atlantic Ocean. 'Nil moror' is their motto, in disregard 

 of the longest journey, and distance forms no part of their 



