(Ba 6) 
ON NEWLY DISCOVERED IRISH COLONIES OF 
ROSEATE AND SANDWICH TERNS. 
BY 
Cc. J. CARROLL. 
In the course of various trips through Ireland I have reached, 
from time to time, the breeding haunts of several rare species, 
but my red-letter day occurred this season when, with great 
good fortune, I discovered a large new Irish colony of Sand- 
wich Terns (Sterna s. sandvicensis), together with a small 
colony of Roseate Terns (Sterna d. dougallit). 
On reaching a ternery very early in July, 1917, a cloud 
of birds arose, and above the general babel I was delighted 
to hear the harsh, unmistakable calls of the Roseate Tern. 
Several of this beautiful species then came over my head, 
their characteristics being so plainly discernible in the brilliant 
sunshine that there was no difficulty in picking them out 
from the other Terns. They showed considerable anxiety 
at one spot, so I put a mark there, and walked on to explore 
the ground generally. 
More luck was in store, as shortly afterwards I came right 
up to a Sandwich Tern settlement. Situated on a slope, 
it was divided into four groups, only one of which was any 
real distance away. The first group contained eighteen 
lots of young and ten sets of eggs, and the next five lots of 
young and fifty-eight sets of eggs. Forty or more old birds 
hovering in a cluster over another place evidently had young, 
while the last and farthest-off group had fourteen sets of 
eggs. Thus I examined over one hundred nests of this fine 
species, and probably quite one hundred and fifty pairs were: 
breeding. In sixty-two instances the “clutch” consisted 
of two eggs, and in eighteen instances of a single egg only, 
but two nests held three eggs each. 
It was an unusual date for this early Tern to have so many 
eges unhatched, but no doubt the very severe spring had 
affected them. Anyway, some days later almost all the 
young had emerged and moved into hiding. 
After making some notes I turned back towards the Roseate 
Terns and found four pairs were nesting a little to the right 
of the mark I had erected. They had selected a site on the 
extreme outskirt of, and somewhat lower than, the general 
Tern colony, and were almost completely screened from the 
gaze of the other birds. The ground, too, was broken up 
into little shelves or ridges, and the eggs were tucked away 
under lee of these. Indeed, the greater part of one bird was 
