THE ROSEATE TERN. 279 



not learn any particnlars respecting them. They may at that 

 period have been on migration southwards, after breeding. 



On visiting the Skerries — islands off Portrnsh, and near the 

 Giant^s Causeway— on the 12th of July, 1883, I found that 

 terns are not numerous there, and was told that from being much 

 disturbed by fishermen and others, they are gradually becoming 

 scarcer. The surface of these islands as to structure and vegeta- 

 tion is very simdar to the Mew Island, but the rocks present a 

 more even surface, and are less favoui-able for their nests. Three 

 bi''ds, which we shot, were of the arctic species. We saw but 

 one nest, also of tliis bird, one egg in which would be called 

 tliat of the arctic, the other of the common tern. Judging from 

 the cry of crahe which 1 heard from one bird, the roseate species 

 must be here. 



When in Dublin, in May 1837, I learned that two roseate 

 terns had been killed in summer on the barren Eockabill, four 

 and a half statute miles from. Skerries, on the Dublin coast ; and 

 subsequently I was informed that several had been shot in the 

 last week of June the same year, a few miles from the island.'^ 

 Hence it was presumed that the species breeds there. We cannot, 

 as Mr. Selby has done, on the authority of the lighthouse- keeper 

 on the Parn Islands, say when this bird came to the Eockabill, 

 but only, that it was first noticed there (so far as my information 

 extends) at the period named. On the 1st of July, 1840, it was 

 ascertained that they were breeding there plentifully ; sixteen of 

 them were shot and sent to my informant ; no other species of 

 tern was obtained on the occasion.f The Eev. George Eobinsou 

 visited this island on July the 12th, 1844, and saw hundreds of 

 roseate terns, four of which were shot. S. hirimdo was numerous 

 there. The roseate, though abundant, was not so plentiful as 

 the arctic and common united. In June 1847, he visited Eock- 

 abill a second time, and on that occasion found a great diminu- 

 tion in the numbers of the roseate terns, which was attributed by 

 the boatmen to the number that had been shot by boating parties. 



On the 17th of July, 1850, Mr. John J. Watters, jun., went 

 * Mr. T. W. Warren. t Ur. C. Farran. 



