SANDWICH TERN. 465 



spring time, when the egges are laide, any man that pleaseth may 

 take of them. In the high rockes thereof, the sea guse, whereof 

 we spake before [Solayne geese], are taken in abundance." This 

 writer, however, does not give the information from personal 

 observation, but acknowledges in his preface that he "will follow 

 Donald Munro, a man both godly and diligent, who trauelled all 

 these isles vpon his feet, and saw them perfectly with his eies" 

 a character and example which it would be well, perhaps, for 

 some modern naturalists to imitate. 



NA TA TORES. LA RIDJ1. 



THE SANDWICH TERN. 



STERNA BOYSI1. 



IN bygone years it was no uncommon thing to see flocks of this 

 fine species fishing in shallow water on many parts of the coast. 

 Serious inroads, however, have been made upon its breeding haunts 

 on both the east and west coasts, and in places where formerly their 

 eggs could be seen in hundreds it is now a rare occurrence to find 

 more than the contents of one or two nests. Some of the best 

 known haunts, indeed, including the rocky islets near the Bass 

 Rock on the east, and some of the islands on the Frith of Clyde on 

 the west, have become entirely deserted; and it is questionable 

 whether there is any breeding station in Scotland at present equal 

 to those of twenty years ago. 



There is a small colony of Sandwich Terns on Inchmoin, a low 

 flat island on Loch Lomond where they have been found breeding 

 along with other species, and where they will probably increase if 

 unmolested. In the time of Pennant this species seems to have bred 

 on the isles of Loch Leven, in Fifeshire. Speaking of the birds in 

 his ' Tour in Scotland/ he calls them Great Terns the same name 

 he gives those he saw on the Fame Islands where the Sandwich 

 Tern still retains its ground, although in greatly reduced numbers. 



I have of late years observed stray birds of this species frequent 

 ing the shores of East Lothian and Fifeshire : and it is to be hoped 

 that the recent Act for the preservation of sea birds will be the 

 means of reinstating both it and the next mentioned species in 

 localities which have for years been wholly abandoned. 



2E 



