165 



THE COMMON TERN. 



Sterna fluviatilis Naum. 



The Common Tern was first recorded at Dungeness in 

 Kent, where three pairs arrived on April the 6th, and passed 

 on. The main arrival took place at their breeding-area there 

 on the 12th of April, when large numbers put in an appear- 

 ance. It is possible that in 1909 the main body ma}'- have 

 arrived together, as no fluctuation in numbers was recorded 

 from there after the above-mentioned date ; nesting became 

 general by the 11th of May. Single pairs arrived in 

 Essex and Hampshire on the 21st of April, and there was 

 a slight increase in the latter county two days later. In 

 Essex the main arrival took place on the 24th of April, and 

 in Suffolk on the 26th. On the 27th the earliest birds wer^ 

 noted in Norfolk, while the main body of the nesting-birds 

 for that locality arrived on the following day. The first pair 

 arrived at the Cumberland breeding-area on the 25th of April, 

 a second pair on the 6th of May, while the arrival of the main 

 body was apparently delayed until the 19th of that month. 

 On the 4th of May a number were noted in Cornwall, and a 

 considerable arrival took place in Merioneth on the same day. 

 Nesting had begun in Lancashire on the 17th of May. 

 Small numbers of passing migrants were noted in Northamp- 

 tonshire on the 6th of May, in Sussex on the 7th, in Cheshire 

 on the 9th and in Oxfordshire on the 11th and 16th of that 

 month. 



