LETTERS 



LONG-TAILED TIT'S METHOD OF BUILDING. 



To the Editors of British Birds. 



Sirs, — Major W. R. Thompson may be interested to hear of a Long- 

 tailed Tit's nest in our garden here in June 1916. It appeared to be 

 without any opening, but after very careful examination I discovered 

 a curtain over the entrance beautifully woven of the same moss and 

 lichen as the nest. It was easily lifted by the finger, and, when released 

 it fell over and exactly fitted the circular hole, much as an eyelid fits 

 an eye. It was certainly not an accidentally torn piece of the nest, 

 as it had a finished edge like the entrance hole. The bird I think must 

 have been killed as it never came to the eggs [which were cold and 

 fairly fresh laid when found — there were nine of them] so I was not 

 able to see it enter. L. E. Taylor. 



Pyrford Heath, near Woking. 



STATUS OF THE ARCTIC TERN IN LANCASHIRE AND 

 THE FARNES. 



To the Editors of British Birds. 



Sirs, — I have been very much puzzled by Mr. H. W. Robinson's 

 remarks (Vol. XIV., p. 281). He holds that the Common Tern 

 (5. hinindo), being much stronger than the Arctic Tern (S. paradiscsa), 

 drives the latter away from its Lancashire resorts, even by battles 

 royal in mid-air, and continues " as it had already done on the Fame 

 Islands." As an old member of the Fame Islands Association I am 

 not aware of this, and in fact I have found the Arctic Tern increasing 

 there at a much greater rate than the Common Tern. Before the 

 war I used to make a point of visiting these islands each year during 

 the nesting season, and from 1906 to 1914 (inclusive) I never missed 

 making at least one visit each season. My experience then was very 

 different from what Mr. Robinson asserts ; and for every pair of 

 Common Terns there would be several hundred pairs of Arctic Terns 

 present and nesting. With the exception of four or five pairs on the 

 Brownsman I have never seen Common Terns nesting on any islands 

 of the group, excepting on the Knoxes and the Inner Wideopens, on 

 each of which there are a fair number. But even on these two islands 

 they are hopelessly outnumbered by the Arctic Terns. I have not 

 had the same opportunity of so thoroughly investigating the colonies 

 on the outlying Longstone as upon the other islands ; but I have not 

 identified any Terns but Arctics there, and on my last visit to that 

 island (in 191 3) there were two separate colonies, which I estimated 

 at not less than 250 pairs each. They had wonderfully increased on 

 the Longstone, as they had also done on the Brownsman ; and the 

 increase in these outlying colonies was so far as I could make out 

 entirely in Arctic Terns — with the exception of the four or five pairs 

 of Common Terns previously mentioned as nesting on the Brownsman. 

 Now with respect to Walney. I visited this island with several 



