256 THE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



THE SANDWICH TERN. 



Sterna cantiaca. 



This Tern may be seen on our coast every spring, though it 

 is never very numerous. Arriving in April, it remains the 

 greater part of the summer, and may be met with occasionally 

 all along the shore. It does not now breed in the county, 

 though formerly the eggs were not unfrequently found on 

 the extensive tract of beach in the neighbourhood of Win- 

 chelsea and Eye. It now goes further north in the breeding- 

 season. The nest consists purely of a depression in the sand, 

 or occasionally it is placed among the drif ted^sea-weed above 

 high-water mark. 



The voice is powerful, and may be heard from a great dis- 

 tance, resembling the words "kirhitt, kirhitt." The bird 

 feeds on insects and small fish. In my own notes I have the fol- 

 lowing : — " A Sandwich Tern was shot off Brighton in the 

 first week of April 1844, in full summer plumage : another 

 similar specimen near Shoreham in the beginning of May 

 1866." Mr. Knox (O. R, p. 243) says that specimens have 

 been obtained at Pevensey, Rye, and Selsey, in May and June, 

 and in the autumnal months. Mr. Jeffery (p. n.) mentions 

 an immature bird, a female, shot at Pagham Harbour, on 

 October 12th, 1861, and an adult male at Sidlesham on May 

 11th, 1863. 



