The Sandwich Tern. 27 



Family— LA RIDAL. Subfamily— STERNIN/E. 



Sandwich Tern. 



Sterna cantiaca, Gmel. 



THIS Tern derives its names of " Sandwich " and " Kentish" Tern from having 

 been discovered (in 1784) in the neighbourhood of the town of Sandwich, 

 in Kent — a locality near which it is now almost quite unknown. It regularly 

 breeds in England, though far less abundantly than formerly ; for owing to 

 persecution it is found now only in the few localities where it has been permitted 

 to nest undisturbed. 



It breeds still also on Walney Island, off the Lancashire coast, and at the mouth 

 of the River Esk ; and on the Fame Islands on the east coast. Through the well 

 directed efforts of a few naturalists, who have formed an association for the pro- 

 tection of the sea birds which annually resort to the latter locality to breed, there 

 were in June, 1892, as many as 2,400 nests of this Tern there; while in 1867 

 there were only some 200 pairs nesting. We understand that Walney Island has 

 now also become a " protected area," as are the estuaries of the Dee and the 

 Mersey, in which birds can not be shot at any season of the year. No doubt this, 

 along with other rare species which occasionally resort there to build, will now 

 have a chance of increasing on the western as well as on the eastern side of 

 England. 



In Scotland the Sandwich Tern breeds at several places on the east coast and 

 on some of the inland lochs. In Ireland there is, we believe, only one small islet 

 in a lake between Killala and Ballina, in County Mayo, where the bird finds a 

 safe nursery. We dare to name this locality because the proprietor, Sir Charles 

 Gore, to whom every ornithologist feels grateful for his action, strictly preserves 

 from molestation these birds, which are prone, on very little interference, to desert 

 a breeding place. 



Beyond the British Isles the Sandwich Tern has been found along the whole 

 of the western shores of Europe, south of the latitude of Denmark. In summer 

 it frequents the coasts of the Black Sea, aud breeds on the Caspian, thence 

 it migrates to Asia to winter along the shores of the Red Sea, the Persian 

 Gulf and the coasts of Sind. Birds frequenting Western Europe winter in Africa, 



