150 



THE COMMON TERN. 



Sterna jin v'udilis, Naum. 



A SINGLE bird was reported as Laving been seen in Kintyre 

 on tlie 1st of February and ten or eleven were noted on the 

 4:tli, while three others were recorded from Cardross (Clyde) 

 on the 24th of" the same month. On the 15th of April 

 the first birds reached the breeding-area at Dungeness (Kent), 

 and on the same day six were seen flying north at St. Mary's 

 Island (Northumberland). 



On the 20th and 21st stragglers were passing in Hertford- 

 shire ; the breeding-areas were reached in Essex on the 23rd 

 and in Suffolk on the 26th, while an increase was recorded 

 in Kent on the 29th and in Suffolk on the 30th. The main 

 body in both these counties seems to have arrived during 

 the first week in May. 



The first record from the west was on the 1st of May ; an 

 increase was re])orted from Merioneth on the 5th, and 

 Common Terns were passing on the Lancashire coast on the 

 9th and lOtli and in Glamorgan on the 12th, while they 

 were recorded as plentiful in Anglesey on the 10th and in 

 the Clyde on the 13th. 



Further increases were reported from the east coast on 

 the 15th and 20th of May. 



Nesting was general in Kent by the 20th of May, and 

 eggs were found in Norfolk on the 22nd, but it was 

 recorded that at Ravenglass (Cumberland) and at Walney 

 Island (Lancashire) Common Terns did not arrive in numbers 

 on their nesting-areas until the first week in June, and were 

 not fully established there until the second week. 



