168 BRITISH BIRDS. 



contained eleven birds. I handled in all five examples shot 

 by the shore-gunners. These birds without an exception were 

 immature and, singularly, all females. The occurrence of the 

 species in such numbers is regarded as unusual, since, hitherto, 

 it has visited the district only in small numbers and somewhat 

 irregularly, not being recorded at all during some seasons. 



Stanley Duncan. 



BLACK TERNS IN NORTH WALES AND CUMBER- 

 LAND. 



In view of the fact that the visits of the Black Tern to North 

 Wales are few and far between (cf. Vert. Fauna N. Wales, 

 p. 369), it may be worth recording that the species has this 

 year appeared in three distinct localities, all about mid- May. 

 Six were seen on 21st May flying about over Presaddfed Lake, 

 near Holyhead, by Messrs. R. J. and W. G. Edwards. One 

 in full summer plumage Mas shot while in company with 

 several others at Towyn on 15th May, and sent in to Cooke, 

 the Shrewsbury taxidermist, who also showed me a similar 

 bird, shot at Bettws-y-Coed by a Mr. Cameron a few days 

 earlier. This is a first record for Carnarvonshire. 



H. E. Fokrest. 



On August 26th I found the remains of an adult Black Tern 

 (Hydrochelidon nigra), on the sandhills at Ravenglass, in 

 Cumberland. The last seen there was one I recorded as 

 having occurred on May 6th, 1907, which stayed a couple of 

 days ; the first there for many years (see Additions, Vol. II., 

 p. 306). 



H. W. Robinson. 



WHITE- WINGED BLACK TERN IN WARWICKSHIRE. 



Knowing that the White-winged Black Tern (Hydrochelidon 

 leucoptera) is an extremely rare visitor to the Midlands, it is 

 with a certain amount of diffidence that I record a bird, I 

 think undoubtedly belonging to this species, which appeared 

 at Packington on May 8th, 1909. When I first saw the bird 

 it was accompanied by a Black Tern (H. nigra), and I was at 

 once struck by the lightness of its wings, as they hawked 

 together over the pool. As I watched them the lighter-winged 

 bird settled on a post rising above the water less than ten 

 yards from where I stood, and I could plainly see that the 

 carpal joint was pure white, this colour shading into the dark 

 grey of the wing. After a short rest the bird raised its wings 

 and a few seconds later flew from the stump, and during the 



