373 



Order GAVLE. 



Family 

 Sub-Family STERNIN^. 



BLACK TERN. Hydrochelidon nigra (Linnaeus). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, ' Birds of Great Britain, 1 vol. v, pi. 

 75 ; Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. viii, pi. 592 ; Lilford, 

 ' Coloured Figures,' vol. vi, pi. 1. 



Less than a century ago the Black Tern was quite a 

 common summer-migrant to the south-eastern counties of 

 England, where it bred in large numbers; but as in the 

 case of the Ruff and other species, drainage has wrought 

 such changes that no longer are these districts used as 

 nesting-sites. 



In April and early May, 1 small numbers make their 

 appearance, not only on the coast, but about rivers, lakes, 

 and marshes. 



In the northern and western counties of England, this 

 species is comparatively rare, but it is met with in many 

 parts of the low-lands of Scotland. In the Hebrides and 

 Orkneys it is not known. 



Its visits to Ireland are irregular. Examples have 

 been recorded from the following counties, chiefly during 

 the autumn : Kerry, Cork, Waterford, Tipperary, Louth, 

 Mayo, Leitrim, Antrim, Down, Londonderry, Donegal, and 

 Dublin. In the last-named county specimens have been 

 most frequently obtained. 



Of the birds which appear in August on the southern 



1 In the ' Zoologist,' 1901, p. 105, Mr. A. Patterson mentions that on 

 May 8th, 1895, he saw forty-two of this species on the mud-flats of 

 Breydon, in company with Gulls. On the same date of the previous 

 year a flock of thirty was observed. 



