THE ROSEATE TERN. 277 



And never stays to greet him ; Ay, quoth Jaques, 

 Sweep on, you fat and greasy citizens ; 

 "Pis just the fashion : v}herefore do you look 

 Upon that poor and broken bankrupt there /"'* 



Mr. J. R. Garrett has supplied the following note, under date 

 of ^tJi of August, 1849: — "Terns were in great abundance at 

 the Mew Island to-day. I endeavoured to estimate their number, 

 and considered that there were not less than two thousand within 

 sight. So long as we remained on the island they continued to 

 hover over us, uttering their shrill screams, and showing much 

 anxiety, many of them having small fish in their bills, intended, 

 no doubt, for the young birds which had been hatched. On 

 making a careful search we found a considerable number of eggs, 

 the majority of which were addled. A few were, however, quite 

 fresh, notwithstanding the advanced period of the season, and in 

 four of them were young birds, whose cries were audible through 

 the chipped shells. A boy, who resides on the neighbouring 

 island, told me that he had taken from the Mew Island eleven 

 dozen and three terns' eggs, on one day at the commencement of 

 this season. Being desirous of procuring a few terns for ])reser- 

 vation, we shot half-a-dozen at random — two of these were of the 

 roseate, and the remainder were of the arctic species." 



On the 16th of July, 1850, 1 visited the Mew Island in company 

 with the gentleman last named, and others. We were equally as- 

 tonished and annoyed to find that there was not a tern of any kind 

 on the island ; nor did we see one when going to or returning from 

 it to Groomsport, the distance between the two places being about 

 five miles. We were told by different persons that the birds 

 came as usual at the commencement of the breeding season, but 

 from being much fired at, and robbed of their eggs very soon after 

 arrival, they all left the island, and not one had since been seen 



* A fallow-deer which I saw in October 1833, had met with an accident in the 

 deer-park at the Cave-hill, near Belfast, probably by having fallen down some of the 

 precipitous clifts, and his fore-legs were much bruised, thougli llie bones were not 

 broken. But he was put an end to by his eompauioiis, of which there was sufficient 

 evidence from tlu' wounds of their horns in his rear. The gamekee])er here stated, 

 that whenever any deer in the park are unable to keep pace with the herd, the latter 

 are siu'e to destroy them. 



