OCCUERENCE IN ENGLAND OF THE CASPIAN TERN. 457 



in the first fortnight of September. The Green Sandpiper was 

 very unusually scarce with us. The long-continued drought 

 drove all our Blackbirds and Song Thrushes to the spring-heads 

 and river-side, and our snails and slugs had a very bad time. 

 . My personal observations are, unhappily, very limited, but our 

 shooting parties reported vast numbers of Sky Larks on the 

 stubbles,— or fields in which stubble ought to be,— and crowds of 

 Finches about our fences. 



ON THE OCCURRENCE IN ENGLAND OF THE 

 CASPIAN TERN. 



By J. H. GURNEY, JUN. 



As some uncertainty enshrouds the few recorded examples of 

 Sterna caspia, Pallas, which have been killed in England, I send 

 the following corrected version of the hst of Norfolk specimens 

 which appeared in the ' Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich 

 NaturaHsts' Society.' Some of the information has been gleaned 

 from the correspondence of the late T. C. Heysham, brought to 

 light by the Rev. H. A. Macpherson {vide antea, p. 386), a 

 correspondence full of interesting matter, which has now most 

 fortunately fallen into good hands :— 



One, Yarmouth, or Breydon Broad, October 4th, 1825. Mag. 

 Nat. Hist. iv. p. 117 ; Babington's ' Birds of Suffolk,' p. 347. 



One, Yarmouth, 1830. ' The Zoologist,' 1856, p. 5035. Li 

 the Norwich Museum. 



One, Cromer, 1836. A letter to T. C, Heysham, dated Nov. 

 21st, 1836, lent by the Rev. H. A. Macpherson. 



One, Yarmouth, April 16th, 1839. Received in the flesh by 



my father. 



One, Yarmouth, female, June 2nd, 1849. Is, or was, in the 



possession of Capt. Barber. 



One, Yarmouth, male, June, 1850. In the Bury Museum. 



One, Yarmouth, July IGth, 1850. My father was informed 

 that others were seen at the same time. 



One, Yarmouth, male, August llth, 1851. Preserved at 



Northrepps. 



One. Yarmouth, male. May 2nd, 1862. Stevenson, Zool. 



1862, p. 8093. 



ZOOLOGIST. — DEC. 1887. 



