BIRDS OF THE RAVENGLASS GULLERY. 169 
Common Tern, very short, the wings are longer and narrower, 
and the bird of course appears much larger altogether. The 
rosy tinge on the under parts is only noticeable at all in a 
favourable light. By June 21st many of the birds were already 
losing their full nuptial plumage, and showed white feathers on 
the forehead, but the extent of the white differed with the in- 
dividual. The birds, calling excitedly, often dashed down to 
within a few inches of my head. The Common Terns never 
showed the same temerity, even when I was handling their 
young ones. 
At high water the Sandwich Terns were often to be seen 
fishing in the harbour, not in parties as the Common Terns 
frequently were, but singly or in twos and threes. They flew to 
and fro above the feeding-place at a height of from twenty to 
forty feet, but I never saw one hover as the Common Tern does. 
The tail is fanned out but not depressed. The wings are half- 
closed, and the body makes a half-turn during the oblique 
forward plunge to the water. Total submergence seems nearly 
always to take place, and the period of submergence is markedly 
longer than with the Common Tern; occasionally, however, 
the wings show above the surface, and the body only is sub- 
merged. 
The call-note, audible at a considerable distance, is a loud, 
erating ‘‘kirr-whit.” I often heard this note when the birds were 
fishing in the harbour, but never on the nesting-grounds. There 
I only heard the alarm-note, which was plainly distinguishable 
in the babel of the Black-headed Gulls’ and Common Terns’ 
voices. It varies from ‘‘gwit’’ to ‘‘gwut,” a sharp note re- 
peated several times. The young in eggs which were chipping 
uttered a feeble ‘‘ gwit,” a mere whisper of the loud cry of the 
adults. 
The Sandwich Terns flying overhead at the nesting-ground 
often had a Sand-eel (Ammodytes) dangling from their bills. A 
young bird which I captured disgorged about three inches of the 
tail-end of one of these fishes, partly digested. On July 11th, at 
the side of a nest, I saw a Sand-eel, a Sprat (Clupea sprattus), 
and a small Weever (T'rachinus). 
The Common Tern nests sporadically in all parts of the 
gullery, but congregates in large colonies on three flat areas 
