412 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



stomach proved to be full of the comminuted remains of a 

 bivalve shell, though no trace could be discovered either of fish 

 bones or fish scales. 



ROSEATE TERN. 



Sterna dougalli, Mont. 



The Roseate Tern was found breeding on the island of 

 Foulney in 1840. The late Mr. Hancock informed Mr. Mitchell 

 that in July of that year it appeared to be about equally 

 represented with the Common Tern. Then, as now, the island 

 was much disturbed by fishermen, and the Terns' eggs had been 

 repeatedly robbed, so that the birds had had to lay two and 

 three clutches of eggs. Six eggs that he found were just 

 hatching, and one of the number hatched while he was watching 

 the old bird. This statement is independently corroborated by 

 Mr. Adamson's experience, as evidenced by Cooper's letter of 

 1843, quoted under Sandwich Tern at p. 411. 



Yarrell stated, in the first three editions of British Birds, that 

 the Roseate Tern probably bred ' on some of the low flat islands 

 in the Solway Firth,' and though no grounds for his statement 

 have ever been produced, a single specimen of this Tern was 

 undoubtedly secured on the upper waters of the Solway in 1834. 

 Writing to Dr. Marshall of Belfast in October of that year 

 T. C. Heysham observes : ' Neither did I see a good specimen 

 of the Roseate Tern in any public or private colln. I had 

 an opportunity of examining. One was accidentally shot in 

 this neighbourhood by a countryman in the month of August, 

 the first instance, to my knowledge, of its occurrence in this 

 county, although I had looked for it for the last few years. 

 The specimen alluded to had evidently been migrating south- 

 wards.' Heysham subsequently recorded its capture in the 

 following words : ' A fine male of this beautiful Tern, 

 beyond all doubt the most elegant of the British SternidaB, was 

 accidentally shot near Burgh marsh point on the 26th of July 

 [1834]. For the last five years we have diligently searched 

 after this bird in this quarter without success, and we have little 

 or no doubt that the above was an accidental straggler on 



