BIRDS 413 



its passage to the south.' No specimen of the Eoseate Tern has 

 been obtained on the Cumberland coast since 1834, in which 

 connection it may be well to explain that at that time this Tern 

 nested at various points, as, for example, on the coast of Nor- 

 thumberland, or, again, on the east and west sides of the Irish 

 Channel, near Belfast, and, as already remarked, at Foulney. 

 Dr. Marshall, of Belfast, writes to Heysham from Edinburgh, 

 November 9, 1831 : 'I shall endeavour to procure you the old, 

 eggs, and young of the Arctic and Boseate Terns, which breed 

 on an island near Belfast, and where I have frequently visited 

 them. The egg I now send I believe to be that of the Roseate 

 Tern, as both it and the Arctic breed on the island, and the only 

 distinction I could see between their eggs was the greater 

 darkness of the colours in what I believe to be the Boseate.' 

 Dr. Marshall writes again in June 1833: 'I went down one 

 day last month to the Copeland Island for the purpose of pro- 

 curing a few Terns and their eggs, but I was rather unfortunate, 

 for I went too early for procuring the latter, and only brought 

 home some Arctic Terns. I did not get a Boseate Tern, and 

 my companion and I remarked how rare they appeared to what 

 we had witnessed a few years ago. I was told by several 

 persons on the island that scarcely a week elapses in which a 

 party do not pay them a visit for the purpose of shooting 

 Terns. Should the system be persevered in for a year or two 

 longer, I very much fear that the birds will be totally driven 

 away.' In February of the following year a single specimen of 

 the Boseate Tern was forwarded to Heysham by Dr. Marshall, 

 with an expression of regret that he had no more specimens 

 which he could then forward. 



Mr. Hancock was collecting enthusiastically in 1834, and 

 writes to Heysham on the 5 th of March that year : ' The 

 Boseate Tern still breeds on Coquet and the Femes, but is very 

 scarce and difficult to procure. When I visited those islands a 

 few years back I could not get either the bird or the egg. I 

 thought it was probable they might breed more plentifully upon 

 your part of the coast, or should not have troubled you with its 

 name. This spring I shall use my best endeavours to procure 

 specimens, and, should I be fortunate, shall be glad to supply 



