188 BRITISH BIRDS’ EGGS. 
SANDWICH TERN. 
STERNA cCANTIACA, Gmelin. 
Pl. XXXII, fig. 3. 
Geogr. distr.—Europe and the coasts of Asia Minor; Africa south- 
wards to the Cape; America southwards to Brazil; breeds locally on 
the British coasts. 
Food.—Fish. 
Nest.—A mere shallow depression in the ground, lined with a few 
blades of dry grass. 
Position of nest.—Hither on a flat mud bank or upon growing grass, 
and amongst bushes on sand. 
Number of eggs.—2-3; usually 2. 
Time of nidification.—V-VI; June. 
The Sandwich Tern is not easily frightened; it is said 
that even the report of a gun does not appear to terrify it. 
It is a regular summer visitor to our shores, but it is more 
local than formerly. Mr. Seebohm says that ‘‘it no longer 
breeds on the coast of Essex or Kent, but it is still found 
in some numbers on the Farne Islands off the Northumber- 
land coast, and there is a small colony on the coast of 
Cumberland. A few pairs breed on Walney Island in 
Lancashire, and on the Scilly Islands. In Scotland the 
breeding-places of this handsome bird have fared no better. 
It is carefully preserved on Loch Lomond, and is said still 
to breed in the Frith of Tay, and in Sutherlandshire and 
some other places on the west coast. In Ireland it breeds 
in County Mayo, and possibly on some other parts of the 
west coast.’’—(Hist. Brit. Birds, vol. iii., p. 272.) 
Mr. Seebohm further relates that on the 19th June, 1870, 
he took 149 eggs of this species on the Farne Islands, 
selecting only such as were exceptionally handsome; the 
eggs were in such numbers that it was impossible to walk 
across the colony without treading upon some of them, and 
after he had made his selection the numbers left in the 
nests were not perceptibly lessened. 
