THE COMMON TEEN. 281 



the Scottish coast, a locality on either side ; — the Isle of May on 

 the east, and Cumbrae on the west."^ 



Audubon thus writes : — " Beautiful indeed are terns of every 

 kind, but the roseate excels the rest, if not in form, yet in the 

 lovely hue of its breast. I had never [until the 28tli of April, 

 1833, at the islet named Indian Key] seen a bird of this species 

 before, and as the unscathed hundreds arose and danced as it were 

 in the air, I thought them the humming-birds of the sea, so 

 Hght and graceful were their movements" (vol. iii. p. 296). 



THE COMMON TEEN. 



Sea Swallow; Pirre (North of Ireland) .f 

 Sterna Mr undo, Linn. 



Is a regular summer visitant to the coast and inland 



waters. 



Mr. Selby remarks, that tliis tern " is of rare occurrence upon 

 the whole extent of the eastern shores of the north of England 

 and Scotland, where its place seems to be supplied by the arctic 

 and roseate J species" (p. 468). Sir William Jardine observes, 

 that it " is a much more uncommon bird than either the roseate 

 or arctic tern" {' Brit. Birds,' vol. iv. p. 277). He coincides with 

 Mr. Selby in the statement of its rarity on the eastern side of Great 

 Britain, referring at the same time to the two or three pair nidifying 

 (as noticed by this author) at the Earn Islands, and adding that 

 a few build on the Isle of May, Erith of Eorth. " It breeds near 

 the western extremity of Rockcliff salt-marsh, at no great dis- 

 tance from the junction of the rivers Eden and Esk, in the Sol- 

 way Eirth, and a few pairs on Solway Moss."§ At Eoulney Island, 

 coast of Lancashire, its eggs have been found, (as well as those 



* It is supposed to breed on islets in the Solway Frith. (Mr. Hcysham, Carlisle.) 

 t Skirr at Lambay ; Kingfisher at Lough Neagh. 



X The only localities yet recorded for the roseate along the whole eastern line of 

 England and Scotland arc two— the Faru Islands and the Isle of May. 



§ Mr. Heysham, in Yarrcll's ' Brit. Birds,' vol. iii. p. 397. 



