414 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



you.' Hancock writes again on July 23rd, 1835: 'You will 

 think I have forgotten you altogether, but the cause of my 

 delay you will conceive when I tell you I had to depend en- 

 tirely upon others for the birds you mentioned, as I could not 

 get down to the sea myself to shoot them. I have been very 

 unfortunate, for I have only got one specimen of the Sandwich 

 Tern and two of the Roseate, which you will find in the accom- 

 panying box. I have taken their skins off, as I was afraid they 

 would be in a putrid state before they reached you, as they had 

 been killed two days previous to their coming into my possession; 

 they are not so clean as I could wish. You will observe the top of 

 the head of the Sandwich Tern is spotted with white : at this 

 season of the year there are none to be had with black heads, for as 

 soon as they are done breeding the black feathers seem to drop 

 out, and they are replaced by white ones ; in all probability, in 

 the winter they have an entirely white head, but I have not 

 had an opportunity of ascertaining this, as they are only summer 

 visitors. I hope in a few days to send fresh specimens, but the 

 Roseate I will not promise, as they are much rarer than any of 

 the others that breed on our coast. These are the first I have 

 had.' 



The Roseate Tern has long deserted Foulney ; it is very 

 doubtful indeed if any Terns even attempt to lay on that island, 

 though I have, of course, seen both the Lesser and the Common 

 Terns flying over. In 1865 Mr. Howard Saunders observed a 

 single pair on Walney, where Mr. Harting had found the species 

 established in May 1864. Williams, the Barrow blacksmith, 

 received two Roseate Terns from Biggar in 1874. 



COMMON TERN. 



Sterna Jiuviatilis, Naum. 



A few Common Terns may be seen fishing at many points 

 of our coast all through the summer months, but the birds 

 have only three considerable breeding stations. The best known 

 of the number is also the largest, viz., the colony established 

 upon Walney Island. At the north end of the island the birds 

 nestle on rough turf, but at the south end of Walney almost all 



