272 LAllID^. 



at the expense of a partial ducking."^ Landing on the Mew Is- 

 land, we found a number of their nests, containing generally three 

 eggs, deposited either on the surface of the dried Zostera marina, 

 which had been drifted on the island, or on the bare sand between 

 the ledges of the rocks. One or both of each pair seemed to 

 keep fishing within sight of their nest, as, although we did not 

 see any birds sitting on the eggs, they instantly and hurriedly 

 made their appearance overhead on our near approach to their 

 treasures, uttering their hoarse jarring cry, and continuing to fly 

 about with great anxiety and consternation. After firing for some 

 time at all the birds that came within sliot, and having killed 

 thirteen, we ceased : — of these, two were roseate, three common, 

 and eight, arctic terns. It is well remarked by Sir Wm. Jardine, 

 that — " All the terns are very light, and the body being 

 comparatively small, the expanse of the wings and the tail so 

 buoys them up, that, when shot in the air, they are sustained, 

 their wings fold above thenl^and they whirl gently down, like a 

 shuttlecock. The roseate tern is remarkably buoyant, and we 

 could almost run below and catch the specimen in our hat before 

 it reached the ground.^'t So soon as the young are ready to fly, 

 they and their parents commence to wing their way southward, 

 remaining for some time about Belfast Bay, where throughout the 

 month of September they — S. hlrundo and S. arctica in particular 

 — are commonly seen. As none of the terns remain during winter, 

 the inhabitants of the Copeland Islands are puzzled to know 

 whence they come in spring. They say that they have never seen 

 them on their progress to the Mew Island ; but that every year 

 in the mouth of May a heavy fog comes on, and after it has 

 cleared away the rocks are studded with them ! Although fancy 

 is here called to aid, the remark suggests that they migrate in 

 large bodies. J 



* Terns have fi-equently come within a few yards of a person of my acquaintance 

 wliile fishing in a boat about Green Island, near Carrickfergus — where they are 

 called pirre-maws, — and when little fish were flung iuto the air towards them, were 

 sm'e to be seized before reaching the water. 



t ' Brit. Bii-ds,' vol. iv. p. 275. 



\ The Bishop of Norwich informs us, iu liis ' Familiar History of Birds' (vol. ii. 



