236 ARCTIC TERN 
STERNA MACRURA, Naumann. ARCTIC 
TERN. 
Manx (Tern in general), Gibbyn Gant=Gannet of the sand- 
launce (Ammodytes); Spyrryd=Spirit (Kermode) ; Spithag. 
In 1880 Mr. Kermode includes in his list both the 
Common and Arctic Terns, the former with a query, but in 
1888 the Common Tern alone appears. In 1901 he states 
that S. macrura, S. fluviatilis, and S. minuta, all breed on 
our coasts. There is, however, but one colony of medium- 
sized Terns in the Isle of Man. A specimen found dead on 
the nesting ground on 11th June 1898 is an Arctic Tern. 
Skins exhibited by Mr. Crellin, one of which is now in the 
Ramsey collection, to the Isle of Man Natural History 
Society in 1899 belong to that bird, and as all the birds 
seem to lay in precisely the same situation just above high 
water mark, this, together with the great variation and rich 
colouring of the eggs confirms the idea entertained by the 
writer that all are of the same species. Dr. Crellin 
mentions this colony in 1862. He writes: ‘There are 
generally hundreds of birds of this kind come to breed, but 
this year the people in the neighbourhood said that there 
were very few. Indeed, though I was in the midst of 
them and their breeding ground for several hours, I think 
that I never saw more than eight at a time. Of course 
there were a great many more than that number, but there 
used to be dozens of them in sight at once.’ 
The main part of the colony consists of some twenty-five 
pairs, but after an interruption of some extent a few more 
birds nest on the shingle in exactly the same position round 
a corner of the coast-line. The eggs are placed amid the 
large piled-up shingle, in hollows which hardly seem to 
have received from the birds any preparation for their 
