178 The Zoologist— March, 1866. 



near it, for when pursued it invariably dived, always rising out of 

 shot. 



Henry Hadfield. 

 Ventnor, Isle of Wight, 

 March 1, 1866. 



A Visit to Walney, the Lakes, and the Fame Islands. 

 By Howard Saunders Esq., F.Z.S., &c. 



Up to last year my acqnainlance with our sea-birds during the 

 breeding-season had been confined to those which then frequent the 

 rocky and precipitous portions of our coasts; so, animated by the 

 success of my friend Mr. J. E. Harting, whose experiences are detailed 

 in the 'Zoologist' for 1864 (Zool. 9156, el seq.),l resolved to proceed 

 to Walney Island, there to acquire some knowledge of the habits of 

 the birds which breed round the flat and shingly shores of our coasts, 

 the special object of my search being the roseate tern [Sterna Dou- 

 galii). Although my friend had failed in obtaining this bird or its eggs, 

 still he had seen it, and I hoped that, with the ben(;fit of his experience 

 and by going forth, as an ornithological " Sir Galahad," on a " special 

 quest," I might succeed in finding it somewhere along the Lancashire 

 coast. 



Nowhere numerous, compared with the arctic and common terns, 

 the roseate tern seems to become more abundant as we go west, and is 

 found to breed at the Bermudas, although, as the Rev, H. B. Tristram 

 has lately informed me, it is by no means plentiful even there. Its 

 former breeding-places in our islands are pretty well kuovvn to or- 

 nithologists, but it appears that without, so far as I am aware, any 

 assignable reason, this elegant species is gradually dying out. There 

 has been no special persecution to account for this, no gamekeeper 

 shows its form in his barn-door " collection ;" it is rarely to be found 

 amongst the stuffed birds at the house of the light-house keeper, coast- 

 guard or cottager, along our coasts. A brother collector will show you 

 almost any other tern but tliis : ask half a dozen London dealers for a 

 skin, and they won't be able to find one : it is not killed down for 

 "plumes," and as for the injury inflicted by the " sportsmen" who go 

 out to shoot sea-birds indiscriminately, this species runs no more risk 

 than its congeners. There is no disputing the fact that the species 

 has in the last few years greatly diminished ; all I will further say is, 

 that I want two " clutches " of eggs, and a pair (or two, at most) of 



