LARIDA. 633 
THE BLACK TERN. 
HyprocHELipon NicrA (Linneus). 
The Black Tern was a regular spring-visitor to England before 
drainage had done away with most of the fens and morasses to 
which it used to resort for breeding-purposes ; but even in Norfolk 
the last eggs on record were taken as long ago as 1858, though early 
in this century the nests of the ‘ Blue Darr,” as the bird was called, 
might have been found by hundreds on the alder-swamps. In 
Lincolnshire a pair or two of the ‘“ Car-Swallow,” may occasionally 
be seen in summer ; but otherwise this species chiefly frequents our 
eastern and southern coasts, rivers, and inland waters in April and 
early May, rarely reaching to the north of the Aire and the Humber ; 
while in August the young begin to make their appearance, and a few 
birds remain in the south-west as lateas November. In the west of 
England it is rare, even on the marshes of the Solway, where, how- 
ever, its eggs are said to have been taken in 1855; and though it 
has been met with on the Firth of Forth and other parts of the 
lowlands of Scotland, as well as on Loch Lomond, it is as yet 
unknown in the Hebrides or the Orkneys. The irregular occurrences 
recorded from Ireland are chiefly those of immature birds in autumn. 
As a straggler the Black Tern was obtained in the Feroes in 
