342 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



beetles. In the summer it is by no means uncommon, especially 

 about Tean, but it does not breed. The Whimbrel in the forties 

 was fairly plentiful in the early autumn, and a separate column 

 used to be reserved for it in the Tresco game-book, but it gradu- 

 ally became very scarce. In 1843, for instance, fourteen were 

 shot, whereas from 1856 to 1867 only four birds in all were 

 killed. Their number in the autumn is still small, though two 

 or three may frequently be seen, but in May, 1903, there must 

 have been several hundred on St. Mary's, and towards the latter 

 part of April, 1904, several were seen on the beach at Tresco. 

 It is probably, therefore, a regular spring bird of passage. The 

 May birds were astonishingly tame, and permitted a close inspec- 

 tion. The Esquimaux Curlew is a very rare accidental vagrant. 

 The only Scillonian specimen was killed by Dorrien- Smith on 

 Tresco on Sept. 10th, 1887. 



Terns seem to have been much more abundant fifty years ago 

 than they are now. Even in 1854 Jenkinson writes: "Terns 

 have all diminished in numbers during the last four years." The 

 Black Tern is seen every now and then on the pools of Tresco in 

 immature plumage in the autumn, and sometimes in August. 

 An adult was obtained in April, 1877 ; on April 10th, 1903, a 

 party of seven was watched hawking insects at Porthellick, St. 

 Mary's, and on April 26th, 1905, four were seen over the Long 

 Pool at Tresco. Until the last few years this bird had very 

 rarely been recorded as a spring bird of passage on the Cornish 

 mainland, but since 1900 it has been observed there every year 

 in the month of April. A White-winged Black Tern in full 

 plumage was shot by David Smith on the Long Pool, Tresco, on 

 May 14th, 1882, and, like most other rarities obtained on the 

 islands during the last twenty-five years, is in the Abbey collec- 

 tion. A fine example of the "Whiskered Tern in immature plu- 

 mage was shot on Tresco by Pechell on Aug. 2nd, 1851. A 

 Gull-billed Tern was killed on Tresco by Jenkinson in May, 

 1852. In 1841 there were more than a hundred pairs of Sand- 

 wich Terns breeding among these islands. " On the south of 

 the north portion of Annett," writes Dorrien- Smith, "is a large 

 patch of bracken, on the north side of which, in days gone by, 

 as many as forty nests could be found." For more than twenty 

 years now that favoured spot has been deserted, and, though 



