568 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



Family LARID^E. 



The family at which I have now arrived, the 

 Laridse or Gulls, might, I think, be conveniently 

 divided into three the Terns, the Gulls and the 

 Petrels : as it is, however, it contains as many as 

 forty-one British species, and twenty- eight of these 

 must be included amongst the Birds of Somerset. 



COMMON TERN, Sterna Hirimdo. The first on my 

 list, the Common Tern, is only an occasional spring 

 and early autumn visitor to our coast : it does, how- 

 ever, sometimes make its appearance further inland, 

 as it has been found as far from the sea as Bath.* 

 The autumnal visitors are generally a mixture of 

 young and old birds on their return from their 

 breeding stations. 



I do not believe any of these birds ever remain 

 to breed in our county, although parts of the coast 

 would appear to be well suited to that purpose, and 

 a few of them do breed on the coast of the neigh- 

 bouring county of Dorset, t Wherever their breeding 

 station is, they do not appear to trouble themselves 

 much with making a nest, the eggs being placed in a 

 hollow on the bare ground, or occasionally amongst 



* Montagu's Dictionary, by Newman. 

 f ' Zoologist' for 1865, p. 9676. 



